


"I want a Girlfriend!"

by Narumi_Miro



Series: A few Genderswapped Bandori characters AU [2]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: A few Genderbent characters, F/M, I took way too long to make this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2020-09-06 21:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20298421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narumi_Miro/pseuds/Narumi_Miro
Summary: Male Ako wants a girlfriend, but he didn't seem to realise that the person he's been looking for had been right beside him all this time.





	1. "I want a Girlfriend!"

**Author's Note:**

> I swear, I didn't want to spend four months working on this but in the end, I did. www
> 
> Hope you enjoy~!

“I want a girlfriend!” 

Shouted the boy with short, purple hair who was on his drum throne, resting his arms on his snare as he did. In an instant, Rinko, who had just finished taking a sip from her drink near her keyboard, looked at the boy and tilted her head to the side, wondering about his sudden declaration. There seemed to be a little bit of red showing on her face, but luckily, no one else in the studio that they were in seemed to have noticed it as their attention were all focused on the boy at his drum set. Rinko wanted to say something, but before she could, Lisa spoke up.

“What’s this about wanting a girlfriend all of a sudden, Akito?” The boy whose name was Akito quickly responded. “Well, the truth is…” 

Without realising it herself, Rinko unconsciously gulped as she waited for Akito to continue his sentence. He took a short pause to take a deep breath, before he shouted out.

“I’m jealous of all of you!”

“Jealous?” A few voices sounded. One coming from the vocalist beside Lisa, one coming from Lisa herself, and the other coming from the guitarist that was practicing a solo part by herself near the other end of the studio. That last person was the least expected one to respond, but nevertheless, she did. Akito’s answer made Yuu tilt his head in confusion.

“Jealous?” The silver haired boy asked again. Akito gave a quick and loud response.

“Yeah! You and Lisa-nee are always so lovey-dovey with each other when you’re together, and Sayo-san can’t get her mind off Tsugu even when I was chatting with her! It’s making me want a girlfriend too!” That response caused Lisa’s face to show a tint of red, while Sayo sounded a slightly manicing “...Udagawa-san?” in the background from where she was. That caused Akito to shiver a little, but he decided that it would be better if he didn’t respond if he doesn’t want anything to happen. After a few seconds though, Yuu and Lisa looked at each other, before they both looked at Rinko in unison. They stared at her for a good few seconds, causing Rinko to wonder what’s up, before Yuu turned his attention away from her and faced Akito, asking him,

“Well, don’t you have one?”

“Have what?” Akito tilted his head.

“A girlfriend.”

“No I don’t?” Akito replied, looking a little bit confused as to why Yuu would say that. Hearing that, Yuu looked over towards Lisa, before they once again stared at Rinko. A few seconds of awkward silence pass, before Lisa spoke up.

“Well… I get what you’re saying Akito, and I guess we’re sorry for making you feel that way. But you shouldn’t force yourself to get a girlfriend just because you’re jealous, you know?” 

“I know… I know that, but still...” Akito sighed, sulking for a little while before he eventually asked.

“Actually, how did you two became a couple anyways?”

“H-Huh?! For you to suddenly ask that… It’s kinda embarrassing…” Lisa scratched her cheek sheepishly as she blushed, before she continued shortly after. “But if you want to know, I guess I can tell you…”

“Wait a minute Lisa, don’t you think we should keep that private?” Yuu cuts in, a troubled look on his face.

“Come on Yuu, it’s for Akito! And besides, while it is embarrassing, I still like to remember about that day, and telling others about it makes me happy too, so…”

“Can I…?” Lisa asked with puppy eyes. Seeing her like that made Yuu weak, but he still didn’t want Lisa to talk about the day that they became a couple, regardless of how happy that day was for the both of them. He tried to speak up to tell her no, but when he notices Akito putting up the same puppy eyed look as Lisa, as well as Rinko and Sayo staring right at him, looking interested in the story, he gave up and allowed it.

“Fine…” He said, sounding a sigh as he went to have a seat at an available chair near the corner of the studio.

“Yay! This is going to be fun to listen to!” Akito had a huge grin on his face as he waited for Lisa to continue, while Rinko came a little closer to the two of them when she heard that Lisa would be telling their story. Without anyone except Yuu realising, Sayo had also stopped practicing and sat a little bit closer to them so that she could hear Lisa better.

“Alright! Then… I guess I’ll go back to the day before it happened…” Lisa said with a smile on her face as she began to recall the events that led to them becoming a couple. Seeing Lisa look like that, Yuu couldn’t help but to let out a quiet “Oh boy…” as he braces for embarrassment.


	2. “...I’m sorry, Lisa. I kept you waiting for too long.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> YuuLisa confession. Nuff said I guess?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to how long Lisa dragged the story with her little details and off track explanations, this chapter will be in Yuu’s POV for you to read, due to it being more straightforward, as well as due to how his POV would make the confession seem a bit better in my own opinion. There is a certain part/certain words in the confession that wasn’t mentioned by Lisa to everyone else, but I’ll leave figuring out which part it is to you, the reader, instead.

“Yuu, I’m going to get some drinks at the vending machine~ Do you want a drink?” Asked Lisa, a smile on her face when she headed over to Yuu’s desk to ask him the question. It was a short break period in between classes, and the students were going right at it in full blast with their loud conversations. The whole classroom was noisy, with some students going in and out of the class, some even from the classes a full three classes away. Yuu didn’t feel the need to contribute to it though, and he could browse through the book that he was reading regardless of the noise. He was starting to feel a bit thirsty however, so he took up Lisa’s offer.

“Sure.” He said, eyes still stuck on his book. Hearing his response, Lisa’s eyes lit up and she responds.

“The usual right? Got it~! I’ll be right back~” She leaves Yuu’s table with a smile, humming while she was at it.

_ She sounds particularly happy today… Did something good happen to her? _ He wondered, lifting his vision off his book for a short while to see Lisa head out of the class. Once she was gone from his vision, he wanted to return back to his book, but right when he was about to, he notices that there were two guys right at the side of his desk. He didn’t know exactly when they got there, but it seemed like they were there as soon as Lisa left. Soon, one of the guys, a slightly chubby boy with black, short hair spoke up.

“God damn it… I’m really jealous of you, man.” 

“...What do you mean?” Yuu asked, returning his vision back to his book. In response, the other guy, a boy with brown, wavy hair spoke up.

“Imai-san, you know, Imai-san. I’m really jealous of you for having a hot childhood friend like her.” In response, Yuu replied in an uninterested voice.

“I see.”

“It must be nice talking with each other and spending time with each other…” Said the short haired boy said, with Yuu replying in the same tone as before.

“I guess so.”

“Must be nice that you know everything about each other since the two of you were small too.” This time, the wavy haired boy spoke up, but instead of saying anything, Yuu kept silent.

“...”

“Must be nice that she loves you too. Go to hell, god damned lucky bastard!” The moment the short haired boy said that, Yuu closed his book and looked at the boy straight in the eye as he responded.

“Like I’ve said before, she’s just a friend.”

“There you go again. You don’t have to hide it, you know? Everyone in the school knows that she loves you, and hell, even she herself rejects guys with the excuse that she’s in love with you.” The wavy haired boy said, before his friend added, “And here you are, saying that she’s just a friend.”

“I’m saying that because she really is just a friend.” At this point, they were starting to tick Yuu off for being too annoying. But Yuu tried his best to not let his emotions show and looked away from the two of them again, putting the book he was reading underneath his desk as he did.

“Sure man, definitely. Aaa, I really wish that she was my childhood friend instead. That way, I could have a hot girl who’s head over heels for me.” Said the short haired boy, before continuing shortly after, “Besides, why are you even waiting man? If it were me, I’d go for her the instant I find out that she loves me!”

“I have my own reasons.” Yuu responded after having finished stowing his book away. The boy’s question managed to bring Yuu closer to the edge of snapping, but he thought he could still prevent himself from doing so. That was, until the wavy haired boy responded.

“Sure you do, but don’t you feel bad for the poor girl? At this point, you ignoring her feelings without actually rejecting her or anything just makes you an asshole for leading her-”

“Don’t act like you know anything.” Before the boy could even finish his sentence, Yuu stood up from his seat and quickly grabbed the wavy haired boy by the collar, pulling it up and closer to him slightly as he glared right into his eyes with a sharp tone in his voice. In an instant, the looks on both of their faces turned grim.

“You idiot!” The short haired boy exclaimed to his friend, agitated by the sudden turn of events. The wavy haired boy was frozen in place when Yuu pulled him up by his collar, but his friend’s voice managed to snap him out of it, allowing him to respond, sounding afraid at the same time.

“S-Sorry… I’ve said too much...” 

“I’m sorry for my friend’s stupidity!” Right when his friend finishes his apology, the short haired boy came in and apologized to Yuu as well, bowing deeply to him. Seeing the two act that way, Yuu sounded a sigh before pushing the wavy haired boy away gently.

“...Whatever.” Yuu took his attention away from the two boys and started moving towards the door. Right when Yuu was about to reach the door, Lisa came in with drinks in her hands and called out to him.

“Yuu~ I’m back with drinks~!” Though, Yuu ignored her and walked right beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder before speaking.

“Sorry, I don’t need it anymore. You can have it.” As soon as he finishes his sentence, he lifts his hand off Lisa’s shoulder and passed her, heading out of the classroom before turning left and continuing on his way.

“Yuu…?” Lisa was confused as to what was up with Yuu, as she looked at him move further and further away from the classroom. She could tell that he was in a bad mood just from the look on his face, as well as the tone he had as he spoke to her, but she couldn’t figure out why he would suddenly feel that way.

“Good job man, you’ve made him angry.” The short haired boy said to the wavy haired boy as he looked at him, a disappointed look on his face. 

“But…” In response, the wavy haired boy tried to come up with an excuse, but he ultimately couldn’t find the right words and remained silent. Lisa didn’t intend to listen in on their conversation, but when she did, she couldn’t help but stare at the two boys not far away from her, a suspicious look on her face.

“Imai-san, over here!” Right when she was thinking of going up to them so that she could ask them on what they were talking about, the girl who sat at the table beside Lisa’s, a girl with long, straight and shiny black hair, called out to her. Hearing her, she came over to the girl’s table before the girl signaled to Lisa to get closer so that she could whisper into her ears. She did as told and came closer, and the girl proceeded to tell her everything that had happened when she was out buying drinks. After her explanation finished, Lisa couldn’t help but instantly switch her attention from her friend to the two boys from before, with her glaring at them.

“You guys…” She said in an irritated tone as she continued glaring at them. Seeing her annoyed like that, which was a rare occurrence in and of itself, made the two boys feel guilty and prompted them to apologize to Lisa at the same time, bowing deeply.

““Sorry, Imai-san! We took it too far!”” Lisa wanted to go off at them, but she figured that it wasn’t the time for it and sighed instead, before looking back to her friend and placing the drinks that were in her hands onto her table.

“Thanks for telling me. You can have these.” She said before heading out of the classroom in a hurry, trying to find Yuu. Whatever words that her friend tried to tell her right afterwards never managed to reach her ears as she was already far away from the class. Although she didn’t really have to, she started looking around for Yuu everywhere, all so that she could be by his side and try to comfort him. She wouldn’t know if that would be a good idea though, but she didn’t care much about it.

She ran and searched all around their year’s level, but she couldn’t find Yuu anywhere. Because of that, she started searching on other levels as well, but in the end, the chime signalling that break time was over sounded across the school, and she still couldn’t find Yuu anywhere. She thought of skipping class in search for him, but she knew that it would be pointless since Yuu wasn’t the type of person to skip class no matter what he’s facing. Because of that, she figured that Yuu was probably on his way to the classroom already, and so she started heading back to class. Sure enough, right after returning to the class, she managed to find Yuu at his desk, already preparing for the next class. 

She wanted to go up to him and ask him about where he’d been, but the teacher entered the class right when Lisa stepped foot through the back door. Because of that, she held off her question and decided to ask him during their next short break.

When it finally came, Lisa went up to Yuu to ask where he had been when she was searching for him, but his response was something that Lisa couldn’t help but laugh at, not only because of how funny it was, but because of how dumb she felt for worrying too much about Yuu, seeing as how he basically went back to normal after coming back to class.

“I went to the washroom after I left, but the guy’s washroom on our floor was broken so I went to the one the next level down. Right when I was about to leave the washroom and head up the stairs back to our year’s floor though, Mitake-san stopped me and occupied me until the bell rang. Sorry to make you worry.”

“What the heck?” Lisa exclaimed while laughing. Soon after, Yuu decided to pay Lisa back for the drinks she bought for him earlier by getting her a drink from the vending machine, before they continued their day as usual until the end of school.

* * *

“I like you, please go out with me, Imai-san!” That was what the boy with blonde, messy hair and blue eyes said to Lisa as he bowed deeply to her, with Lisa herself feeling troubled by the boy’s confession. 

It was after school, and Yuu and Lisa were getting ready to head back home together when the boy called out to Lisa and asked if he could borrow her for a while to talk about something. Since there wasn’t any practice on that day considering that they had just finished their gig just the night before, and since they weren’t in any real rush, Lisa agreed to come with him and the boy brought her out to the back of the gym to talk, or rather, confess to her. And while this wasn’t the first time that she was confessed to by someone, she still felt troubled nevertheless, trying to think of ways to try and reject him without hurting him. After a few brief moments of silence, Lisa spoke up in a troubled tone.

“Sorry… I appreciate your feelings, but-”

“I know, you love Minato-san, right?” The boy cuts in between Lisa’s sentence, with his words managing to make Lisa flustered due to its suddenness.

“W-Wait, I didn’t even say anything!” Lisa tried to deny it, but the boy formed a small smile before responding.

“You don’t have to. Everyone in the school already knows, haha…” He sounded a tired laugh before he continued in a serious tone.

“But… Could you please reconsider? Am I no good?” Lisa was troubled. His words managed to make her scramble for the words to respond with, but she had trouble finding them and in the end, had to endure her embarrassment as she told him of her feelings towards Yuu.

“It’s not like you’re no good… It’s just that… I don’t think I'll ever love anyone other than him, as embarrassing as it sounds…” Lisa had a blush on her face, and while that’ll usually make anyone around her think about how cute she looks for at least a split second, the boy quickly responded in a slightly desperate tone.

“You’ll never know until you tried! Besides, what’s so good about him, anyways?”

“Well… He’s cool… He’s really devoted and passionate about the things he loves... He’s fun to hang around with… He can be surprisingly clumsy… And if you actually get to know him, you can tell that he’s actually a really kind person behind his words…” Lisa responded to the boy’s question, scratching her cheek sheepishly as she continued, the blush on her face steadily increasing before stabilizing soon after.

“I can tell you more about him if you’d want! Like how adorable he is when he lets his guard down, or how heartwarming it is to see him try so hard to cook something, only to fail!”

“...No thanks, I think I’ve heard enough.” The boy responded, a tired look on his face as he pinched the bridge of his nose, before asking.

“But, if you're THAT in love with him, why aren’t you a couple yet? Is it because you haven’t confessed yet? Are you holding off your confession or something?” Hearing what the boy said, the blush on Lisa’s face quickly dissipated, and the happy look that was on Lisa’s face as she started talking about Yuu quickly turned into a bittersweet smile, a slightly gloomy feeling behind it. Lisa took a while to respond back to him, but she eventually did, albeit, she didn’t really answer his question.

“Well… That’s not really the case, but I’d prefer if I don’t have to say it…”

“...” The boy was speechless, but he knew that it wouldn’t do any good if he were to push for details from her, and even then, he knew that whatever he does, his love wouldn’t get reciprocated by her regardless. Because of that, the boy responded with a gloomy look on his face, before sighing shortly after.

”Fine. If that’s the case, I’ll give up.”

“There really is no space for me, huh… Damn it…” He mumbled right after, looking down at the ground as he clutched both of his hands into a fist out of frustration. Seeing that, Lisa couldn’t help but feel bad, feeling as if she had hurt him. Because of that, Lisa apologized as she grabbed onto her left arm to try and calm herself down.

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine, I was prepared for this anyways, but I guess it still hurts, haha…” The boy responded, putting up a fake smile, along with sounding a fake laugh.

“Anyways, sorry for taking up your time, Imai-san. I hope you’ll be able to get together with him…!” He continued, still trying to keep that fake smile up. Though, even with that fake smile, he couldn’t hide the tears that was beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. Seeing that, Lisa couldn’t help but look away from him as she responded, trying to avoid seeing the pained look on his face that she caused, her voice wavering.

“...Right.”

“Well then…!” The boy sounded, before he took his leave, walking right past Lisa. That was when Lisa felt as if she did something absolutely horrible to him, when she noticed the tears that was beginning to drop from the boy as he passed her. As soon as the boy was far away from her, Lisa started to tremble as she gripped her arm even harder, as a way to try and stop her shaking.

“...I really hate having to do this…” Lisa muttered in a soft, wavering tone as she tried her hardest to not let her emotions get the best of her. Seeing Lisa like that, the silver haired boy who was watching the whole thing unfold from afar couldn’t help but curse himself as he apologized to her in his heart.

_ ...Lisa, I’m sorry.  _ Unable to let himself stay there, the boy left the area and started heading back to his classroom before Lisa did, the horrible feeling that Lisa got managing to infect him as well, albeit for a different reason.

* * *

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Yuu~! Let’s go home!” Said Lisa with a smile when she finally came back to the classroom. There was no one else there except for Yuu, who was reading his book from earlier. Hearing Lisa call out to him, he turned his attention away from his book and towards Lisa, before responding while nodding.

“Right.” He kept the book in his bag and stood up from his chair before heading on over to Lisa. Yuu went ahead and took the lead when they finally left the classroom, while Lisa was right beside him, just a feet behind him. The two were talking with each other normally, but Yuu couldn’t bring himself to look at Lisa directly after seeing the red corners of her eyes, most likely due to her letting her emotions flow not long after he left earlier. He eventually managed to bring himself to look at her though after the redness slowly went away, as well as after thinking that it’ll be worse if she found out that he was avoiding looking at her.

* * *

“Did you see the video that I sent you yesterday?” Lisa asked not long after they finished their original conversation ended, an expectant look on her face. Seeing Lisa act that way, Yuu responded while being cautious of what she was up to.

“I did, but I’d prefer if you didn’t suddenly message me at night with a video like that.”

“Cause it’ll ruin your focus since it’s too cute?” Lisa had a smug look on her face as she said that. Yuu immediately responded, but had to stop for a quick second to change his reply.

“Y- Wait, that may or may not be part of it, but that’s not the only reason.”

“You just can’t be honest with yourself, huh? Cute~” Lisa moved in on him and gave him a hug from behind for fun, wrapping her arms around his neck with a smirk on her face. Yuu had a troubled look on his face as he tried to explain himself, as well as get her off of him.

“Lisa, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Sure~” Lisa on the other hand, didn’t care about what he was saying, and the smirk on her face was stuck there for a while because of it. Maybe it was because she managed to get Yuu flustered enough for a blush to show up on his face? Regardless of the reason, Yuu decided to give up on trying to do anything and sighed instead, with a small smile forming right after from Lisa’s playful actions.

* * *

“...Oh.”

“Hmm? Yuu, what’s up?” Asked Lisa after Yuu made that sound. They were finally at the shoe lockers and were grabbing their shoes to go home until Yuu made that sound. Yuu reached into his shoe locker and pulled out something, before staring at it and responding.

“Well, it’s just that…” He moved his hands and showed Lisa what he found from where he was standing, to which Lisa responded with an excited look on her face.

“A letter? Oh, could it be a love letter?!” She looked like she had sparkles in her eyes as she asked. Yuu didn’t know why she sounded excited about it, but he did realise that whatever the reason was, she’s hiding how she really felt. In response to her question, Yuu inspected the outside of the envelope, which was completely blank, before answering.

“I’m not sure...”

“Read it, read it!” Lisa quickly switched her shoes from her indoor shoes to her outdoor shoes before rushing over to Yuu’s side to pester him and read the letter as well. 

“I will, you don’t have to rush me.” He said with a troubled look on his face, before proceeding to open the envelope, take out the letter and reading it. Lisa was reading the letter as well from Yuu’s shoulder, and as soon as Yuu finished reading it, he closed the letter and placed it back in its envelope.

“...Looks like it really is a love letter…” He said, sighing. Lisa on the other hand continued on with her excitement and responded.

“Congrats! This rarely happens, huh?”

“I guess so.” Yuu placed the envelope into his bag, before proceeding to switch out his indoor shoes for his outdoor ones, wearing it right after. In the middle of this, Lisa asks.

“So, will you respond to it?” Yuu had to think about it for a moment before responding, and when he did, he finally finished wearing his shoes..

“...Since she took the effort of actually writing me this letter, I guess I will. But my answer will always be the same.”

“‘There’s no time for romance’, right?” Lisa asked, with her saying that quote in a voice that’s trying to impersonate Yuu, albeit it wasn’t that accurate.

“...” She had a smile on her face, but when Yuu stood still, silent without any movement, that was when the smile slowly dissipated away from her face. Worried, she called out Yuu’s name.

“Yuu?” In response, Yuu finally said something, before proceeding to close his shoe locker’s door.

“I really don’t know anymore.”

“...Huh?” Lisa was frozen in place when she heard his response, and was trying to process what he was saying before he continued.

“Anyways… I’ll go and meet her tomorrow and turn her down.” He said, before proceeding to head towards the exit. Right as he was about to reach the doors though, Lisa called out to him.

“Yuu, wait!”

“Hmm? What is it?” He turned back to look at Lisa, who had a slightly panicked look on her face. 

“Well…” She tried to find the words to say to him, but after a long moment of thinking, she gave up and instead, tried to hide her panicked look behind her smile as she continued her words cheerfully, running up to Yuu to walk by his side as she did.

“...Actually, nevermind. Let’s go!” Though behind her smile, Lisa was still continuing her earlier panic inside her head, with her wrecking her brain around Yuu’s sentence all the way home and into the night, even after she got back.

_ Yuu... What did you mean by those words? _

* * *

The moment Yuu finally reached home, he went straight to his room and laid flat on the bed, facing towards the ceiling. He starts to unwind from the day’s events and eventually rests his vision on the school bag near to him that was on the floor, laying flat with the ground. He gets himself up to go and grab the bag before taking out the letter that he got from the shoe box. Once he got it, he went back to his original position on the bed and started at the letter, being held up high towards the ceiling by his right hand. Soon, he placed that letter on his chest and closed his eyes, and before he even realised it himself, a few words started sounding in his head.

_ ‘Must be nice that she loves you too.’ _

_ It’s not as nice as you make it out to be. _

_ ‘She herself rejects guys with the excuse that she’s in love with you.’ _

_ How many times have I seen that same scene? _

_ ‘Don’t you feel bad for the poor girl?’ _

_ Do you know how horrible I feel whenever I see that fake smile she puts up to hide her feelings? _

_ ‘If you're THAT in love with him, why haven’t you confessed yet?’ _

_ It’s my fault. _

_ ‘...I really hate having to do this…’ _

_ All of it is my fault... _

* * *

“I love you! Please go out with me!” Said Lisa in a shaky voice, with her bowing deeply to Yuu, just so he couldn’t see her face. The bright light and heat of that day after school didn’t manage to reach Lisa, who was starting to feel cold due to her nerves. Hearing her sudden confession, Yuu was speechless, but his expression didn’t change from his normal, cold and uninterested look that he adopted back then.

“...”

“I know that it might be the worst time for this, but I can’t hold it in anymore! I really do love you, Yuu!” Exclaimed Lisa, trying her best not to lose courage as she started to tighten the grip of her fists. Yuu on the other hand, finally knew of what to say and responded, his tone and expression unchanging from his usual.

“...I’m sorry Lisa, but you should have already known that there’s no time for romance if I want to reach that stage.”

“I know, I know that you’ve said that, but I just can’t accept it!” Her tears began to fall to the ground as she replied, before she ran towards Yuu and proceeding to hug him tightly.

“Lisa-” Yuu wanted to speak to her, but Lisa cuts him off and continued.

“I know why you’re trying so hard to go there, and I know that you won’t stop at anything to reach it and that you’d abandon everything for it, but is romance really a nuisance? Is there really no space for the love I have for you?” She asks, almost sounding as if she was pleading with him to accept her love. Her tears were starting to make Yuu’s uniform wet, but he didn’t care about it and quickly responded to her, his voice sharp and absolutely clear.

“There’s none. Anything and everything is for the FWF.”

“...I see…” Hearing Yuu’s response, Lisa tried to force herself to stop crying before letting go of Yuu and taking a few steps back. She hung her head down, refusing to let Yuu see how she looked like until she managed to fully stop herself from crying. When she finally did, though, she gathered up all of her remaining courage that had been scattered around to speak again, with a wavering voice but determined look and heart.

“Then… I’ll wait.”

“What do you-”

“I’ll wait for you to reach that stage! And when you do, I’ll confess to you once again! That’s fine, right?” Lisa cuts him off once again and declared, looking at Yuu right into his eyes even though she was scared of what he’ll say. Yuu on the other hand, finally lost his usual, cold look and instead, had a troubled one as a replacement as he asked.

“Are you sure about this, Lisa? I don’t know when that’ll happen, you know?”

“Even still, I’ll wait for you!” Lisa quickly replied, making her determination known to him. Hearing her, Yuu quickly asked her another question.

“And besides, how can you be so sure that you’ll still be in love with me by then?”

“I just know it! After all…” Lisa said with full confidence, before she quickly paused, continuing right after with a smile on her face as her tears resumed to flow down her cheeks.

“How long did you think I was in love with you for?” 

“...” Hearing Lisa admit that with a shaky voice managed to render Yuu speechless. He didn’t know what to say to her, as well as couldn’t continue looking at her. Because of that, he hung his head down without saying anything. There was a short moment of silence before Lisa spoke up once again, that shaky voice still with her.

“I can wait as long as it takes. That’s why…”

“When you’re finally up there... or when there’s finally space for the love that I have… Will you let me confess to you again?” She asks with her smile still on her face. Her words forced Yuu to look up to see Lisa, but when he notices how hard she was trying to keep that smile on her face without the steady flow of tears affecting it, he finally felt a pain inside his chest, though he refused to acknowledge it.

“Why are you doing this… Lisa…?” Yuu asked, trying to resist his emotions from showing.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She took a short pause once again before finally giving him her answer,

“It’s because I’m hopelessly in love with you” 

Till the very end, Lisa kept up that smile of hers until the two separated, with each person heading back home by themselves starting from that day on. The days afterwards were the days that Lisa hated the most, with her usual interactions with Yuu being thrown out of the window, only leaving a cold, long distance between the two. 

Part of it was because of how awkward things were between the two of them after her confession, but a big part of it was because of Yuu’s deliberate attempts to distance himself away from her. And while Lisa thought of accepting it for the better, she decided not to give in and tried to force her way back into Yuu’s life whether he liked it or not. It took her a while, and it certainly wasn’t easy or pain-free, but eventually, she managed to almost restore the relationship that the two had with each other before her confession. Though, she knew that she would never be able to fully restore their relationship because of her confession.

* * *

_ I knew. _

_ All this time, I knew of your feelings, but I acted as if I never saw them. _

_ Knew of how hurt you were when I turned you down, but I acted as if it didn’t matter to me. _

_ Knew of how painful it was to recover to the way we are now, but I acted as if it was nothing. _

_ Knew of how you really felt back then behind your smile, but I acted as if that smile was real. _

_ Knew of how sad it is for you to witness the same scene over and over again, but I did nothing. _

_ I’m a horrible person, aren’t I? But still, you somehow managed to stay in love with me. _

_ Why? Even though I was cold towards you, even though I barely cared for how you feel back then, how were you still able to stay in love with me? _

_ How were you still able to stay by my side? _

_ Will I ever know the answer to these questions? I don’t know. But if I die without knowing them, then I guess I really did deserve it. _

_ To be perfectly honest, back then, I used to have feelings for you. I still remember how happy I was when we were still talking with each other and hanging out with each other, even after we entered the same middle school. I still remember how I wished that the time between the two of us would never end. But when that incident happened… I guess that’s when I started to suppress that feeling, or rather, tried to kill it all together. _

_ All for the sake of music.  _

_ Am I a fool? Back then, I wouldn’t say so. But now? While I still think that you should devote yourself to music to reach that stage, I can’t help but really call myself a fool. A big one that is. _

_ How many bonds did I sever back then? How many people did I push away to reach my goal? Was it all worth it in the end? _

_ Looking back at it now, I can’t help but pity how I used to be. But then again, I can’t exactly shun myself either, considering how that same fool managed to find the band he needed, not just for the festival, but for himself as well. _

_ All of them changed me for the better. _

_ Rinko _

_ Akito _

_ Sayo _

_ And lastly, Lisa. Without them, would I still be the me that I was back then? Lost and filled with a strong desire for revenge? That’s the most likely answer I assume, which is why I’m truly grateful to every single one of them. _

_ For fixing the person that I was once. _

_ But… There’s still something that I left undone. _

_ … _

_ ...Even with how hard I tried to kill this feeling, I guess the moment I relaxed my heart and allowed myself to live, it manages to come back in full force, huh? _

_ Do I even deserve to be with her, with all that I’ve done? I don’t know. _

_ Do I even deserve to fall in love with her, with all the pain that I’ve put her through? I don’t know. _

_ Do I even deserve the love she has for me, considering I’ve turned a blind eye towards it this whole time? I don’t know. _

_ But… I know that if I get hung up on that kind of thing, it’ll just make things worse. _

_ That’s why, I’ll try and find a way to fix what I did wrong, to try and repent for the mistakes that I’ve made.  _

_ So that I can deserve to be by your side. _

_ So that I can deserve your love. _

_ “...I’m sorry, Lisa. I kept you waiting for too long.” _

* * *

“That’s it for class today.” Said the teacher in Yuu’s class, as he began packing up his teaching materials before leaving the class while the students rose up from their seats and said their thanks. It was finally the end of the school day, which was the day after Yuu had received that letter in his shoe box. Everyone was packing up their belongings before going back home, including Yuu, until Lisa came up to him, bag in hand as she asked,

“Yuu, have you replied to that letter yet?”

“Not yet. I’m supposed to meet whoever wrote it behind the gym soon.” He stopped to respond, before he continued to finish packing up his belongings. Hearing that, Lisa couldn’t help but mumble out an “I see…” as she started thinking about something. 

“Why did you ask?” Yuu asked the moment he finally finished packing up his stuff, grabbing his bag and holding it at his side afterwards.

“N-No real reason… I-I’ll be waiting for you here then!” Due to his sudden question, he managed to somehow make Lisa flustered, with her responding with stutters. She also seemed to have a particularly visible shade of pink on her cheeks, but while Yuu thought it was pretty weird, he didn’t think that it was important enough to ask or worry about and instead acknowledged what Lisa said before leaving the classroom to head to where he was supposed to go to.

* * *

“Sorry I’m late- ...Ah” Yuu had expected to see Lisa, bored and annoyed while waiting for him at her desk, to turn around and go off at him for being late. But the moment he came into the classroom, he found that instead of what he expected, he managed to find Lisa slumped over her desk with a peaceful smile on her face as she slept, undisturbed by Yuu’s entrance.

“Zzz...”

“Sleeping, huh…?” Yuu muttered quietly, closing the door behind him before slowly heading on over to the desk right beside Lisa’s, sitting down on the desk’s chair and having his attention stuck on Lisa’s blissful face.

_ I guess I’ll let her nap for a little while.  _ That was what he thought when he saw her face, feeling guilty if he were to wake her up when it looked like she was enjoying her sleep. He placed his arm on the desk and used it to prop his head up as he relaxed himself while continuing to look at Lisa with a small, gentle smile on his face. This went on for a peaceful few minutes until Lisa suddenly made a sound.

“Mhmm… Yuu…”

_ Hmm? Is she awake?  _ Yuu thought to himself. She hasn’t opened up her eyes or made any other sorts of movements, but Yuu thought that it wouldn’t hurt to say something. Though, right when he was about to do so, Lisa spoke once again.

“I love you…”

“...”

_ ...Sleep talking? That has to be it, right?  _ That was the conclusion that Yuu came to when he heard Lisa say that. While it did manage to make him slightly flustered, he decided to ignore what she just said, considering that she wasn’t aware of her actually saying it out loud. Though, it did still manage to make him feel a little warm in his heart. So much so that he started to unconsciously reach for the top of Lisa’s head, trying to give it a nice pat. That was, until Lisa suddenly began to wake up, with her starting to move from her slumped position to an upright one on the chair while she rubbed her eyes.

“Hmm…? Yuu… Is that you…?” Yuu managed to pull back his hand in time and successfully managed to not get caught by Lisa. Trying to make sure that he didn’t seem startled by Lisa waking up, Yuu replied back to her with his small smile from before.

“Morning.”

“Yeah… Morning…” Lisa said sleepily before yawning and stretching her arms. 

“...” She tried to get herself fully awake, but eventually, after a good minute or two of silence, Lisa finally woke up and realised the time.

“...W-Wait, did I fall asleep?” She asked, a bit flustered when she realised it. In response, Yuu answered her in a calm tone.

“Yeah, you did. You looked like you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn’t want to wake you up though.”

“S-Sorry for making you wait!” Lisa said in an apologetic tone, though, Yuu didn’t really mind it.

“It’s fine. I took too long anyways.”

“S-Still, it must have been a bore, waiting for me to wake up!” When he heard that coming from Lisa, Yuu couldn’t help but form a smirk on his face as he responded.

“Not really. Watching you sleep peacefully was enough entertainment to keep me company.”

“W-Wha?!” His words managed to make Lisa even more flustered than before, with an intense blush appearing on her cheeks because of it. Seeing her react like that managed to force Yuu to hold back a laugh, something that he had rarely been needing to do until just recently.

“Anyways, let’s go back home now, shall we?” Yuu continued as he stood up, grabbing hold of his bag before he proceeded to go out of the classroom, leaving the shocked Lisa, who was still trying to process his original words, behind.

“Y-Yeah… Wait, Yuu, what did you mean by that just now?!” When Lisa finally realised that she was being left behind, she quickly chased after him, bag in hand as she tried to get an answer out of him. Too bad that she never did get that explanation though.

* * *

“So, how did it go?” Asked Lisa while walking right beside Yuu on their way home. She had a curious look on her face, one that people would expect to pair with her usual excitement, but surprisingly, she seemed calm as she asked. Confused about what she’s talking about, Yuu asked for her to elaborate.

“What do you mean?” It didn’t take long for Lisa to respond.

“The confession. Were you able to turn her down properly?” She asked, with her tilting her head to the side slightly as she did. Now knowing the answer that she wanted, Yuu quickly responded.

“Yeah. It took a little while, but she was particularly understanding and took the rejection well.”

_ ...Though, I feel bad for her. _ Yuu thought, as his mind quickly flashes back to the end of the girl’s confession, and more specifically, when she passed beside him to leave. The girl’s tears as she passed him was something Yuu would rather not remember, but it was unavoidable considering how hard the girl fought to hold back her tears in until the very last second.

“I see... It must have been hard huh…” Lisa commented in a somber tone, with her facing away from Yuu and looking in front of her, a bit downwards.

“Yeah… Though, while I do feel bad, it’s better for her to go out with someone who didn’t accept her confession out of obligation, and to find someone who would actually care for her.” Yuu added, sharing the same feeling as Lisa when he said that. Lisa, however, wasn’t just talking about the girl herself.

“I’m not just talking about her… It must have been hard for you too, right? Turning her down.” Lisa had a worried look on her face as she asked. Seeing that, Yuu took a moment to think of what to say before responding to her.

“Well… I won’t lie that it’s something I’d rather not do if possible.” He took a quick pause before continuing, “But if I have to do it, then I just have to. After all, I have my own feelings to consider too.”

“And besides, I think you have it harder than me, Lisa.” He added at the end.

“What do you-” Lisa wanted to ask about what he meant, but after thinking to herself for a quick few seconds, she sighed with a tired smile on her face, before correcting herself.

“Actually, I don’t have to ask. You’ve already seen through me, huh?” She looked up to the sky while the two walked, before facing in front of her once again and continuing.

“I really don’t like turning them down… It just makes me feel horrible… Even more so when I realise how heartbroken they were...” Her voice was starting to waver, but she continued on talking.

“I can imagine how awful they would have felt if I was in their shoes… I still remember every person that confessed to me too, so whenever I see them or talk to them, I can’t help but feel guilty for hurting them, even if they say that I shouldn’t worry over it...”

“...You’re too nice, Lisa.”   
  


“What do you mean? Isn’t feeling that way normal?” Lisa turned to look at Yuu, who had a small smile on his face, questioning him. In response, Yuu quickly responded to her.

“Well… Being able to think back and feel that way after you reject someone… I think it’s something that not many people would be able to do. You might think it’s a normal thing to do, but I think most people would just try to forget about it as soon as possible.” Yuu catches his breath before continuing,

“Instead, you remember every single person that came and confessed, and would still feel the guilt even if it’s months after they confessed. Compared to me, I’d say that you’re pretty admirable for being able to feel that way.”

“Y-You’re over exaggerating! And besides, I really do think that it’s nothing big to talk about!” Hearing Yuu’s sudden compliment managed to make Lisa blush a little out of embarrassment, unsure of how to react. It was rare for her to be getting compliments like this from Yuu, and because of that, she was at a loss. Seeing her struggle like that managed to make Yuu sound a quiet laugh before responding.

“Alright then. I guess I’ll leave it at that.”

“Geez…” She whimpers, pouting due to feeling as if she had just lost some kind of argument. Though, she didn’t really mind it at all. The two continued on, walking back towards their homes in silence until Lisa broke it by suddenly speaking up. Without Yuu realising it himself, Lisa was already a foot or two behind him.

“Since we’re on topic…” Lisa takes a short breath before continuing.

“...Say, Yuu. What do you think about relationships?” She was looking down towards the ground as she asked, so she was unable to see Yuu’s confused look as he replied.

“What do you mean? I thought you already knew the answer to that?”

“I do... But those words that you said yesterday when we were heading back has been bothering me ever since.” Just by hearing her talk about the time that they were heading back together, Yuu quickly knew of what Lisa was talking about.

“...Back then huh.” He mumbled, just loud and clear enough for Lisa to hear and start speaking.

“Yeah... I can’t help but think that maybe you’ve changed your stance about it or something like that...“ Her cheeks looked a little red as she scratched it sheepishly out of embarrassment, but she was still facing the ground as she did so, as if she was trying to at least somewhat hide how she looked. Seeing her like that, Yuu decided to cut to the chase and give her his answer.

“...Well, to be honest, while I still think that you should still devote yourself to reach FWF, I’m starting to think that maybe there’s a bit of room to relax at the same time, considering that aiming just for the festival without caring about anything else had already proven to be a bad idea.”

“That’s why, if someone from Roselia were to try and get themselves into a relationship or whatsoever, I wouldn’t stop or discourage them, as long as it doesn’t hinder our performance.” He added, a serious look on his face as he said that. He thought that he finished answering her question, but not long after his response, Lisa came with another one.

“Then… How about you?” She asked, this time looking away from Yuu instead of just facing the ground. Yuu knew what Lisa meant by her question, but still decided to ask her to explain it, just so that he could be sure.

“What do you mean?” It took Lisa a moment for her to finally be able to give Yuu an answer, with her tightening the grip that she had on her bag so that she could control her nerves.

“...Love. If someone were to confess to you, would there be a chance for you to accept her?” Yuu kept quiet, giving her no response to her question for a good minute, before finally answering her.

“...I can’t say it’s impossible.” 

“...Then!” In an instant, Lisa ran up to Yuu from behind and embraced him, something that Yuu didn’t really see coming.

“...Lisa?” Yuu asked, though at this point, he began to have an idea on where this would lead to.

“Is it alright if I say it now…?” Lisa asked, her voice beginning to tremble along with the rest of her body. She took a short pause to try and calm herself before continuing her words, “Is there finally space for me in there…?”

“...” Yuu had no words. He kept still and remained there, unsure of what to say. Soon, Lisa continued.

“I know that I said that I’ll wait! And I know that we haven’t exactly reached FWF yet…”

“But lately... Seeing you slowly open up your heart once again like how it used to be made me hopeful…”

“Hopeful that maybe, just maybe… There’s finally space for me in there… for my love to reach you...” Yuu wanted to speak up, but before he could, Lisa continued on.

“I might be totally wrong! You might still have the same view against the whole relationships thing after all… But, I want to take this chance…!”

“Because… It hurts… I love you so much that it hurts just trying to hold back…”

“Seeing you get friendly with the other girls in class makes me feel so uneasy… Scared that one day, one of them would take you away from me by filling in the space that you have in your heart before I could even do anything…”

“Not only them, even seeing you get closer with Sayo makes me scared…”

_ Sayo? Why? _ Yuu wanted to ask her about what she meant, but was unable to as Lisa continued on speaking.

“I don’t want that... I want you all for myself… I want to be the only girl that you look at…” Yuu could start to feel her grip tightening around him, along with a better feel of her trembling, but he still kept silent regardless.

“I know I might sound selfish, but I can’t help but let my desire leak out whenever I see that… And while I knew that you’d reject them anyways because of your view, and even though that should have been enough to silence my worries, I still can’t help but have those same feelings regardless…” 

“Though... today’s letter made me particularly scared...” She tightens her grip once again, and while it was starting to hurt Yuu a bit, he continued to keep still and said nothing.

“To be honest, when you received that letter, I didn’t think too much of it… I thought that it’ll just be another rejection by you…”

“But… Your answer from yesterday… It stuck in my mind and bothered me so much that I couldn’t get a wink of sleep yesterday, both out of hope and fear.”

“On one side, that answer gave me hope that maybe it’s finally the right time to confess… But on the other, it made my worries grow even bigger, now that my fears could easily turn into reality if I did nothing…”

“You know that wouldn’t happ-” Yuu tried to speak up and reassure her that what she was implying would never happen, but before he could even finish his sentence, Lisa cuts him short.

“I don’t know! I don’t know if it’s possible or not, and I don’t know how you feel either!” It was then when Yuu finally realised the tears that was beginning to dampen the back of his clothes, alongside the increase in Lisa’s trembling. Still, Lisa carried on speaking. 

“All this time, I’ve been carrying this love for you, hoping and praying that you would feel the same way... Back then... and even now... But in the end, I’m still scared!”

“Maybe you never felt anything for me at all and I was only waiting for rejection…” 

“...Lisa” Yuu spoke, trying to get her to stop. But Lisa continued on.

“Maybe it was a one-sided thing all along and that I was only forcing my love onto you…”

“...Stop” He tries again, only to get the same results.

“Maybe you were already in love with someone else before, or maybe you’re in love with someone else right now...”

“...Just stop talking.” He tried one last time, hoping to get her to stop. Every single thing that she said managed to pierce through his heart, all of it due to the fact that he was the one who made her suffer like this. The guilt was beginning to pile up, with Lisa’s next words being the final blow to make him finally release the feelings that he had been keeping inside of him all this time.

“And that I was just bothering you with it, telling you that I love you and then forcing you to-”

“It’s never been a bother!” In an instant, Yuu broke free from Lisa’s hug and turned to face her, allowing him to see her crying face before continuing.

“If you’re worried about all of that, then I’ll get rid of all of it! Every single one of it.”

“I’ll make it known right now, my feelings.” In an instant, he pulled Lisa closer to his chest before pushing her chin up and stealing away her lips, taking her first kiss. He wrapped his arms around her to make sure that she wouldn’t get away, and indulged himself in their kiss. After her initial shock from the sudden kiss was gone, without her realising it herself, Lisa began to return back the favour and gave in to the kiss as well, with them having a long minute to themselves before Yuu finally lets go. A string of saliva connected the two of them until Yuu finally stepped away far enough for it to break. Yuu catches his breath before speaking up. 

“From the very first day that I met you, I’ve always wanted to stay by your side!”

“The happy look on your face whenever we went out to play, that caring attitude of yours that never changed, I always wished that we’d always stay as friends back then.”

“But eventually, that changed. We grew older and soon, we started to notice each other in ways that we never did before. Not only that, we began to hang out more and more with our own groups of friends. You with the rest of the girls, while I was with the rest of the guys.”

“I was worried back then. Worried that our friendship would be severed because of how weird it would seem back then for a guy and a girl to hang out with each other. I remember that the whole class would start teasing those who did that for weeks and even months until they finally had enough.”

“I didn’t want that to happen, but at the same time, I didn’t care as long as I got to hang out with you. But when I considered your feelings, I honestly thought that we shouldn’t stay too close with each other anymore.”

“But you didn’t care at all. You kept talking to me like usual, and while our time together was cut short compared to before, we still kept hanging out with each other afterschool. To be honest, I was grateful for that. That you still wanted our friendship to keep going.”

“But eventually, I lost that feeling. Somewhere down the road, I stopped wanting to be just friends with you, and instead, something more than that. I felt like I finally knew the answer too, but in the end, I shut those feelings out. I shut everything out, and even caused you pain too.”

“Yuu… It’s not-” Lisa tried to speak up and make him feel better, but Yuu stopped her.

“Lisa.” He stared right at her, a signal for her to stop whatever that she was trying to say. Seeing that, Lisa kept quiet and continued on listening.

“No matter how you look at it, it’s my fault. I was the one who pushed those who were close to me away, and I was the one who hurt you back then. All for the sake of music.”

“But… Eventually, I found out that maybe everything wasn’t about music. That maybe, I didn’t have to sacrifice my happiness, and anyone else’s happiness because of it. And the people that made me realise that was all of you in Roselia.” Yuu formed a small, gentle smile before continuing.

“Rinko… Akito… Sayo… And finally, you. If all of you weren’t there for me, I don’t think that I would ever be able to break free from my old self. I’m sure that I would still be lost right now if I never never met all of you in Roselia.”

“That’s why I can say this now. The words that I couldn’t say back then…” Yuu took a quick moment to take his breath before finally confessing.

“I love you. And while I don’t know if I actually deserve the love that you have for me, nor deserve to actually love you, I sure as hell won’t be able to give my heart to anyone other than you. Back then, and now.” Yuu ended off his confession with a smile on his face, a smile that Lisa had never seen ever since the incident that started this whole thing in the first place. A smile so bright that it made her doubt that she was actually awake. Speechless, Lisa could only call out his name.

“Yuu…” Trying to find words to say was something Lisa deemed useless for that moment. All she knew at that time was that her emotions were overflowing, and that the only thing she could do to express how she was feeling was through actions instead of words.

“...Yuu~!” She exclaimed, before embracing Yuu while wailing from happiness, as well as relief at the same time. 

“...I’m sorry, Lisa. I kept you waiting for too long.” Yuu returned her embrace by wrapping his hands around her and by making sure that he had a tight lock on her. Almost instantly, Lisa replied to Yuu.

“You sure did, you idiot…!” She said as she looked up to see Yuu’s face, a smile on her face with tears flowing down from happiness as she did. Seeing her smile, Yuu returned it with a gentle smile of his own before continuing as he proceeds to hold her closer.

“I’ll make it up to you, for making you suffer back then, as well as for forcing you to suppress those feelings. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“That’s why, I hope you’ll accept this love of mine.” The answer to that, was something that was painfully obvious for Lisa, a huge grin on her face as she answered with all of her heart.

“...Yes!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, I spent way too much time working on this chapter than I originally expected to wwww.
> 
> Anyways, how did you like it? Did you like the confession scene?  
I tried coming up with better questions and tried to ask for your opinion, but it's late at night and my brain can't really think of anything to write here LOL.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Onto the next one!


	3. “You love Rinko, don’t you?”

** __ **

“...And that’s how we got together with each other I guess! And they lived happily ever after!” Lisa said with a smile on her face, looking a little red from recalling it all. Everyone else was speechless, but the first one to say something was Rinko, who seemed to have accidentally let out her thoughts.

“I never knew that there was a story behind it... Still, t-that ending...” She mumbled as she turned red from embarrassment. It was pretty obvious as to what her final words were, and everyone other than Lisa seemed to be turning slightly red as well. Even Sayo, who was listening from far away, had a pink tint on her face. While everyone was trying to calm themselves down after hearing that story, Akito cried out.

“Hearing that confession story made me want a girlfriend even more now! Ah!!!” He shouted out, while others formed a small smile seeing Akito react like that. His little complaint managed to bring everyone back to normal. As Lisa went to go grab her water bottle for a sip, she noticed that Rinko had been staring at Akito with a tender look on her face for a while. As soon as she saw that, a small grin formed on Lisa’s face.

“Anyways, you’re saying that you want a girlfriend and all, but what kind of girl would you like your girlfriend to be? Unless if you’re fine with anyone.” Lisa asked.

“Well... It’d be nice if she was able to play games with me, chat with me at night, love music and Roselia as much as I do, be decent at household chores... Oh, and I’d like if we’ve known each other for a while! I don’t want it to be just anyone!”

“ It’ll be great if she could assist me on trying to find cool words to say too… ” Akito added in a mumble. The second he finished his mumble, everyone in the room aside from Akito placed their attention on Rinko, staring at her, which in turn made her flustered. Lisa formed a cheeky grin as she said to her, “So he says, Rinko.”

Akito was confused by what Lisa said to Rinko, but before he could ask about it, Yuu spoke up.

“So… Rinko then?”

“Huh?” Akito tilted his head in confusion, which led to Yuu repeating himself.

“Like I said, is it Rinko then?”

“Rinrin? What do you mean?” Akito had a face of genuine confusion on him, and he was struggling to understand what Yuu was saying. But regardless of that, Yuu pushed on and told Akito bluntly.

“What do I mean… Akito, all of the things that you’ve just said points towards Rinko.” 

“Y-Yuu?!” Lisa exclaimed in shock. Lisa had never thought that Yuu would tell something like that towards Akito that straightforwardly. While Lisa was trying to think of something she could do to intervene and maybe prevent things from getting weirder, Rinko was busy overheating from what was unfolding in front of her. Akito on the other hand, was trying to deny it.

“No, no, no, while I did say it’d be nice if I could get a girlfriend that could do those stuff, I never thought of Rinrin…” When she heard that, her feeling of embarrassment had turned into shock and depression. And while Lisa noticed that and wanted to try and cheer her up, the conversation between Yuu and Akito moved on quickly enough to make her forget about it.

“Not even a little bit?” Yuu asked.

“No! To me, Rinrin’s just like a…” Akito’s words were stuck as he tried to continue. He wanted to say that Rinko to him, was just like a big sister or something close along those lines, but that didn’t feel right. 

“ A friend? No, that doesn’t sound right… Best friend? I guess it fits, but it’s not really right… A Big Sis? While it does feel like it to some degree, it isn’t right... Partners in crime? It sounds cool, but not really… ” He began to mumble to himself, but as he was doing that, Yuu spoke out.

“...Let me ask you a question, Akito.”

“Ah, sure.”

“If you and Rinko couldn’t see each other in person anymore, would you be fine with it?”

“Of course not! I absolutely don’t want that! I don’t want to be unable to see her anymore! Sure, we might be able to talk online and all, but I want to be with her and see her in person!” Akito said in response, almost a little too seriously. Everyone else in the room except from Yuu was caught off-guard by his response, but before anything could be said about it, Yuu continued on.

“What if someone was preventing her from meeting you? For example… Her parents?”

“I’d feel sad that they didn’t want me to see her, but I’ll find a way to see her regardless!” Akito said with a voice full of determination.

“Even if it’ll get you into trouble?”

“Yeah!”

“Then, would you mind if the two of you were to live together for the rest of your lives and support each other?” Yuu asked.

“That… actually doesn’t sound that bad.” Akito said, nodding. Hearing that, Yuu himself nodded and spoke. “Yup. Akito, I think you found your answer.”

“What do you-” Before Akito could continue what he was trying to ask, Yuu cuts in.

“You love Rinko, don’t you?”

“W-Wha?!” The second he got told that right to his face, Akito turned red all over. What Yuu said managed to get Rinko flustered as well, and while she was blushing uncontrollably, Lisa was panicking from Yuu’s unusual behavior. 

“Think about it. She fits everything in your list, you like being with her, you don’t want to be separated from her no matter what and you don’t mind living with her for your whole life. If that isn’t you liking her, then I don’t know what is.” Yuu gave a calm, smug smile as he took a break from talking and headed over to his seat, taking a few sips from his water bottle as he sat down. What he said to Akito was the final blow though, as not only was Akito overheating beyond help from what he said, Rinko was as well. Trying to process, understand and accept what Yuu said seemed to be too much for Akito though, as he immediately ran away.

“I-I-I-I have to go to the toilet so!” Without even waiting for his sentence to be finished, he ran for the door and quickly went out, leaving Rinko in the room to become Yuu’s new prey. Akito felt bad for doing it to her, but he couldn’t handle the situation anymore. Right about now, Rinko’s probably being questioned as bad as he was by Yuu, and maybe even Lisa this time.

...Or so he’d think. 

* * *

“I knew I asked for help… but… not like this…” Rinko said as she tried to get rid of her blushing face without any success. Yuu tilted his head before asking.

“Hmm? Wasn’t that what you wanted?”

“I just wanted some advice… on how to confess to him… and if he had any preferences for a girlfriend or not…”

“Not… all that…” Rinko added, her blush still stuck on her face. Yuu and Lisa’s efforts to try and assist her had gotten a little bit overboard, especially because of Yuu. Due to that, Rinko started to worry if things would get awkward between her and Akito from now on. Letting out a small sigh, she went back to her keyboard to have a drink. In the middle of all this, an out of the loop Sayo had question marks floating all over her head after she witnessed the whole scene unfold in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andddd that's it for today! How did you like the first three chapters?
> 
> Like I've mentioned on the last chapter's notes, it's late night and I can't really think of anything to say so I'll just keep this short, but I hope you liked reading this! 
> 
> I'll come back with more next Monday, so I hope you'll stick with me till the end!
> 
> Anyways, see ya!


	4. Feelings.

_ When did all of this start, I wonder? _

_ My feelings for you… Before I knew it... it had secretly grown to something I couldn’t pass off as just normal friendship... _

_ I still remember the first time we met. We got to know each other through NFO... and we decided to meet up with each other in real life after we found out that we lived nearby each other... _

_ I knew that you said that you were a guy… but I was still surprised to see that you really were one... A short one, actually… _

_ Though... you being a guy should have been obvious considering that we’ve talked to each other before online, right? Even though you did sound a bit squeaky back then... Still, I never really registered it in my mind until that day. _

_ Before that day, I never really talked to any other males asides from my father face to face. I was scared to talk with them… _

_ But, when I first met with you… I didn’t really feel any fear. You felt like any other friend that I’ve met... and that day became one of the days that I had the most fun in… Though... looking back, it might have been because you didn’t really seem like a guy to me at the time... _

_ You were shorter than me... younger than me... loud and cheerful with a sort of childish voice... and you even had chuunibyou tendencies… If I were to be honest, it felt as if you were my little brother.  _

_ But, you’ve changed, you know? _

_ Slowly but surely, you’ve started looking more grown up. Compared to back then, you’re taller than me… more mature looking and sounding, and a little bit more relaxed too. Even your chuunibyou tendencies had been slowly disappearing. Though, you’d still make an effort to try and act the same way sometimes...  _

_ But I don’t mind that about you... In fact, it’s fun being around you, even with or without all of that. I’d even think about how nice it would be if we were to just stay by each other’s side sometimes, as embarrassing as it sounds…. _

_ You’ve changed, and you feel much more dependable now... But... you haven’t been the only one that has changed, you know? _

_ You helped me change for the better. You introduced me to Roselia, which would eventually become one of my most cherished places in my life… You stood by my side as I tried to open up to others… You supported me when I was worried about things I never thought I’d worry about before... Slowly but surely, you’ve helped me to grow as a person. _

_ ...Maybe I’ve fallen in love with you in between all of that? I don’t know... _

_ But I can say this for sure...  _

_ “I want you to be by my side…” _

* * *

“Akkun…” Rinko sighed as she rested her head on her arms, which was on her desk. She stared at the computer screen right in front of her, and more specifically, at her NFO friends list. Out of all of the names in it, one name in particular became the target of Rinko’s staring, which was Akito’s NFO name. It was grey, compared to all of the other names on the list, which was white. All of those white names meant that they were online in the game, while greyed out names means that they were offline. Staring at that unchanging colour for a few good minutes, Rinko mumbled out, “Will you log on today…?” before she slowly started to doze off.

* * *

“What was that all about…” Akito sighed as he laid on his living room’s sofa, right arm over his eyes. What Yuu said earlier was really strange, at least, that was what Akito thought. 

_ Rinrin? As a girlfriend? _ He had never thought of that possibility before, and he still can’t believe that he could have feelings for her. After all, Love itself is an unknown thing for him, so knowing if he’s actually in love or not is something he finds hard to decide on. But when he finally calmed himself down and thought back on all that had happened during their break at practice on that day, he realised that what Yuu said might not be too strange after all. 

It’s true that he doesn’t want to be separated from Rinko, and it’s true that he doesn’t mind having her by his side, but he doesn’t think that it has anything to do with love or whatnot. Regardless, thinking about what Yuu had said to him, as well as his own feelings, was making Akito feel frustrated for being unable to sort it all out. He lets out another sigh, but this time, someone commented on it.

“What’s with the sigh, Akito?”

“Nii-san…” Akito moved his arm away from his eyes and looked over to the source of the voice. The owner of that voice was a boy with red hair in a short and wild hairstyle, fitting for his cool, bad boy looks. But beneath those looks of his was a relaxed and caring older brother who’s looked up upon by both others, as well as his little brother. Compared to Akito, who has purple, messy hair with a loud and cheery attitude and a small chuunibyou tendency that could make himself look a little childish at times, the boy, Tomo, had an air of maturity and dependability around him. Seeing his older brother worried about him, Akito asked Tomo a question.

“Hey, Nii-san…”

“What’s up?” Tomo asked, looking a little confused as he stood there, drinking a cup of plain water after he asked as he waited for Akito to continue.

“How did you know that you were in love with Hii-chan?”

“*Cough* *Cough* A-Akito? What the heck is up with that question?” Tomo asked as he tried to recover from accidentally choking on water at Akito’s question. A very light tint of pink was on Tomo’s face, but it was still barely noticeable by Akito. In response to Tomo’s question, Akito sighed before replying.

“Actually…”

* * *

“I see… So that’s why you were sighing a lot.” Tomo mumbled, bobbing his head up and down after hearing Akito’s explanation and finally understanding what’s gotten him so down. Tomo tried to take a sip of water from his glass, but when he noticed that the cup was empty, he placed it down at a nearby table and started talking.

“So because of all that, you wanted to know how I knew I fell in love, right?”

“Yeah, anything helps! I just need some way for me to be able to know that I’m in love or something!” Akito said as he sat up on the sofa, eyes shining as he waited for Tomo’s response.

“I see. To answer that then…” Akito gulped as he waited for Tomo to continue, his face all serious to receive the answer. After a small breath, Tomo spoke.

“Donno.”

“...Huh? What do you…” Akito didn’t know how to react to his brother’s answer. Seeing that, Tomo repeated his answer a little bit more clearly.

“I actually don’t know. Before I knew it, whenever I walked around with Himari or just hung out with her, I would just know that I’m in love with her. Something like “Yup, I’m in love with her” or what not.” Tomo shrugged. Hearing that answer, Akito quickly went from excited to deflated within seconds. “How’s that going to help me…” He mumbled out, sulking, before he sighed and went back to lying on the sofa with his right arm over his eyes again. Seeing Akito like that, Tomo scratched his head, feeling bad that he couldn’t help to give a better answer for him. Still, he wanted to at least give a little bit of advice, so he spoke up.

“Well… I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you figure things out. But I think you shouldn’t worry that much.” Akito moved his arm and looked at Tomo. 

“After all, you’ll know that you’re in love before you even realise it yourself.” 

* * *

_ ...Will I really though?  _ Akito wondered before he sighed. The words his brother told him were stuck in his head ever since then, and everytime he remembered those words, that same thought kept popping up in his head. Afterall, he wasn’t sure if it could really be something as simple as that. Regardless, he decided that he shouldn’t ponder about it too much and that he should continue talking to Rinko the same way he had always have. And while it was a little bit awkward between the two of them when they met the next day at band practice, they soon returned back to the way they used to before that whole conversation.

...At least, that is what was supposed to happen. In the end, although that awkward air between them is no longer there and although they had been talking to each other like they had before, Akito couldn’t get himself back to how he was before the whole conversation the other day, and he had been more aware of his actions around Rinko, as well as her actions around him. 

He would get flustered at moments where he wouldn’t have ever had before, and he’d overreact to things others would say about them in terms of their relationship. He was acting strange, but everyone except himself and maybe Rinko knew the reason why he was acting that way. This continued on for a couple of days, until one Friday afternoon at band practice, during one of their breaks…

* * *

“Akkun... Do you have a minute?” Rinko asked, while the rest of the band except her and Akito started to move for the door.

“Hmm? What is it, Rinrin?” Akito asked, having just stood up from his drum throne, ready to follow the rest of the group.

“I… was thinking of heading over to the usual place tomorrow... to buy more materials for our next costume… and I was wondering if you could...”

“Sure, I’m free. You need someone to carry those stuff for you, right?” Akito responded, not even waiting for Rinko to finish her sentence. But that was normal for the two of them, as they had been going shopping for materials for their costumes like this for countless of times to the point where it’ll be strange if Akito wasn’t there with her. Hearing that, Rinko formed a smile and replied.

“Yes… that’s right. Thanks for helping me as always, Akkun…”

“No problem! I’ll show you what the power of darkness can do once again!” Akito said with a proud look on his face, before he continued. “And besides, you know that I don’t mind hanging out with you, right?” Akito formed a wide grin. Rinko on the other hand was taken by surprise by that answer, and a tint of pink started to show on her face.

“Y-Yeah… I guess... I do…” She replied, and while Akito was wondering why Rinko looked a little red, that was pushed to the side when they heard Lisa’s voice coming from the direction of the door.

“Rinko, Akito, what are the two of you doing? You’ll get left behind, you know!”

“Coming!” Akito sounded in reply, before he looked at Rinko.

“I guess we should get going.” He said with a smile.

“Yeah… I’ll tell you where to meet up when we get back home…” Rinko said, returning that smile, before the two started to follow the three who went out earlier. Once they actually left the studio to head to the cafe that the other three went to however, Akito thought of something.

  
_ ...Huh? Isn’t this a date…?  _ That thought passed through his mind. And while one could argue that it is a date, the same can be said for the opposite. Considering that they’ve been going out shopping like what they’ll be doing tomorrow for countless of times already, Akito figured that it wouldn't count as a date and that it’s just a normal thing for them to do. But deep at the back of his head, Akito couldn’t help but have the thought of it being a date be stuck in his mind. Nevertheless, he left that train of thought for later, since continuing it at that moment would be bad in a couple of ways. But little did he know that his thought wasn’t so far off, as Rinko’s plans for their shopping trip wasn’t going to be the same as usual tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

“Sorry for the wait, Rinrin!” Akito said as he rushed on over to where Rinko was. She was standing in front of a statue near the train station gates, looking a bit restless for some reason. He catches his breath when he finally reached her, before asking, “Were you waiting long?”

“N-No… I just got here. And besides, there’s still time before our meet up time… so even if you came later, it wouldn’t be your fault…” Rinko said with a smile. 

“Well, I’ll feel bad if I made you wait, so I’ll try and come earlier next time!” Akito replied with a grin. God knows how many times they had that same conversation, but because of it, they kept meeting up earlier than their planned meeting time. It got to the point where there’ll be times where they met each other a full half an hour before too. They didn’t seem to mind it that much though, since they get to see each other for much longer that way.

Akito looked at Rinko from top to bottom. She was wearing her usual white buttoned blouse and black knees length skirt, but something felt different about her. He tried his best to figure out what it is, but even after a good while of searching, he came up empty. It was still stuck on his mind however, and it didn’t seem like he’ll be able to rest easy without asking her.

“You seem a little bit different today… Did you change something?”

“Hmm? Not really…” Rinko said, tilting her head in confusion, before she continued in a quiet mumble. “ If anything… I guess I did use a different conditioner than usual… But people wouldn’t normally notice that...right? ”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“N-Nothing…” Rinko replied, a little bit flustered.

”Hmm… I guess it’s all just in my head then.” Akito shrugged, before he continued.

“Well then, let’s head to the st- I mean... “ Akito coughed right before he restarted his earlier sentence. This time however, in a way that had been getting rarer to see each day.

“Let us move onwards to the sacred castle!” Akito started walking towards the direction of the store, but stopped when Rinko gave a slight tug on Akito’s right sleeve.

“Hmm? What’s up, Rinrin?”

“U-Um! Before we head there… Mind if we stopped by somewhere first?” Rinko asked, a little bit nervous due to being unsure if what she’s asking for was alright. And while it’s strange for her to behave that way considering the countless times that they’ve done detours before, Akito didn’t seem to have noticed it and asked,

“Hmm? Sure! Where?” 

“Well... It’s not far from here...“ Rinko said as she started moving, heading away from the direction of the store they were planning on going to. Akito started moving along with her as well, walking beside her. She continued on walking without saying a word about where they’re going to. And while Akito wanted to ask, he figured that if she isn’t saying anything about it, it must be some kind of secret or surprise, or anything close to it for that matter. Because of that, he continues walking beside her without questioning.

* * *

“The arcade?” Akito sounded when they finally reached their destination.

“Y-Yeah… There’s this game that I wanted to try out for a while now… and there’s also something new that I’ve been wanting to get from here ever since it was announced…” Rinko said as she stood outside of the arcade’s sliding doors, just a step away from triggering the sensor to enter.

“But… I don’t usually go to arcades since there’s a lot of people… so I was thinking that if you were with me, I’d be able to enter…” She continued. Upon hearing that, Akito grinned and responded.

“I see… Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s enter!” Akito took hold of Rinko’s hand and brought her inside. He could hear Rinko’s surprise when he did that, but he didn’t mind it and continued on forwards. His rationale for grabbing hold of Rinko’s hand was so that she wouldn’t be afraid of stepping inside the arcade, but when they finally came in and were walking around the area near the door, he realised what he was doing.

_ I-I’m holding Rinrin’s hand.... For some reason, this is embarrassing...  _ He thought to himself as he stopped and stared at their hands, his face showing a light tint of pink. It wasn’t as if this was the first time they held hands or anything, but for some reason, he still managed to get embarrassed by it, even if he never did before this.

“Akkun...? What’s up?” Rinko on the other hand, didn’t seem to be bothered by it. The second he heard that, he lets go of Rinko’s hand and replied. 

“N-Nothing!” Rinko looked a little sad when Akito lets go of her hand, but he himself didn’t seem to have noticed it and continued on with his sentence. “Anyways… What do you want to do first? Do you wanna play that game that you were talking about? Or do you want to go grab that thing that you mentioned before?” 

After thinking briefly about it, Rinko replied, “I guess we could start with the game…”

“Sure! What is it called?” Akito asked, a face full of excitement as he waited to hear the name of the game that Rinko would go all the way to the arcade to play. 

“It’s a rhythm game called ‘SouXX VolXXX’... I don’t know how to explain how the game works, but I think you’ll know how to play it when we start playing…” Rinko replied.

“Really? ...Wait, I’m playing too?”

“Y-Yeah… You don’t want too…?” A look of worry with a little mix of sadness appeared on Rinko’s face after thinking that she was getting ahead of herself. Seeing that, Akito immediately replied and explained himself to calm her worries.

“No, I want to! I just thought that you wanted to play by yourself or something...”

“No… It’ll be much more fun if we played together, so…” Rinko wanted to continue her sentence, but she struggled to find the words to continue with. Fortunately for her though, Akito already knew what she was trying to say and responded.

“Alright then, looks like we’ll be playing together!” He said with a grin before he continued in an excited tone. “I can’t wait to play…”

Little did he know that what was waiting for him was ‘hell’.

* * *

“...”

“C-Cheer up, Akkun!” A concerned Rinko tried to cheer up the dejected Akito, who was now sulking on a bench at a nearby resting area inside the arcade. Rinko sat right beside him so that she could comfort him.

“But…” The gloomy look on his face worsened as he recalled what had just happened just a few minutes ago.

“What the heck was all that…?”

* * *

Going back to when Akito was still fine, the two finally arrived at the game cabinets that they were searching for. They went to the two game cabinets that were right beside each other and inserted a few hundred yen to start the game. 

The game’s tutorial was fairly simple, and if you had played any kind of rhythm game before, you’d be able to catch on to how the game works and how to play it pretty quickly. Because of that, Akito felt comfortable playing the game after he passed the tutorial considering he had played a few other kinds of rhythm games before.

“So Rinrin, what song are we going to play first?” Akito asked once they were at the song selection menu.

“Why don’t you pick the first song...?” Rinko said after thinking about it for a second.

“You sure? Then…” Akito started to preview each of the songs one by one, searching for a song that he liked until he eventually found one.

“Ah, this sounds cool… Let’s go with this!” It was obvious to Rinko that Akito only picked the song because of how it sounds, but as someone who had researched the songs inside of the game and watched gameplays of the songs online before coming to the arcade, the second the song preview played, she knew just what she was going to get into.

“S-Starting off with a classic rhythm game song, huh…” Rinko mumbled as she chose her difficulty. Akito on the other hand, was still having trouble deciding.

“What difficulty did you pick, Rinrin?” He asked, taking a peek at her screen.

“I chose the one in the middle... Level 9.” She replied in a calm voice.

“Hmm… I guess I’ll start with Level 9 as well the-” Akito was about to select the same difficulty as Rinko until she stopped him before he could press the confirmation button.

“W-Wait a minute, Akkun… Since it’s your first time playing, I think it’ll be better if you started off at a lower level... “

“Hmm? Why? It’s your first time playing as well, right? Then shouldn’t you start at a lower level as well if you’re saying that?” Akito asked with a curious look on his face, though it did sound as if he was a little bit peeved by what Rinko said.

“W-Well…” Rinko was trying hard to find the words to explain to Akito why playing at her difficulty would be a bad idea, but after seeing the look on Rinko’s face as she tried to desperately tell Akito why, he gave in and took Rinko’s advice.

“...Fine. I’ll play at a lower level then.” He said in a slightly disappointed mumble as he went to select the difficulty level a few levels below the one he wanted to play at. “But, if I manage to get a good score on this song, I’ll play at the level you played at on our next song!” He added with a grin as he waited for the song to start. 

Rinko wanted to warn him against it again, but after a few seconds of careful thinking, she decided that it would be best for him to find out why she was so against him playing at high levels too quickly for himself if he manages to reach his target.

A few seconds of tense silence befell the two of them, until the song finally started.

* * *

“I did it!” Akito said with a huge grin on his face as he gave himself a little fist pump after looking at his score at the end of the song. The whole song was surprisingly easy for Akito, so his confidence to be able to play a Level 9 song and clear it rose up. Rinko on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief.

_ The song really caught me off guard at first… But now that I got the hang of how everything works, I think I can go up a few levels now…  _ Rinko thought as she started to look around for a song that she’d like to play.

“Now then… For the song that I’d like to play…” As she mumbled that out, she began searching for a song which she remembered from watching videos of gameplay online that had an easier Level 9 chart compared to other songs. She did this so that Akito wouldn’t be too shocked by the difficulty gap between his previous level and the level that he’s trying to play on now. After all, she wanted the two of them to have fun playing the game, not suffer from playing it. 

“Ah, I found it.” After using up most of their song selection time, Rinko finally found the song that she had been looking for. She selected the song and looked over to Akito.

“What song difficulty are you going to pick?” Even though she already knew his answer, Rinko still went and asked Akito what he’d pick. In response to that, Akito replied with a confident grin, “Of course… Level 9!” He pressed the level confirmation button and waited for Rinko to choose her level.

“Well… I guess I could try out a harder difficulty this time…” Rinko mumbled as she selected the next difficulty available for the song to the right of Level 9, Level 13.

_ ...Level 13? _ Akito was wondering about Rinko’s choice of difficulty, but that was pushed to the back of his head the second the song started.

* * *

“That was… Harder than I expected... ” Akito said as he stared at his score, feeling slightly down that he had only just barely managed to pass the song. “How did you do, Rinrin?” He took a peek at Rinko’s screen, only to find her results screen showing her Level 13 difficulty level, as well as her clear mark, which was a AAA grade.

“Looks like… I’ll be able to get to the higher difficulties… If I practice more…” mumbled out Rinko, breathing a sigh of relief after. Akito now knew the reason as to why Rinko was against him playing a high level song too early on, and he appreciated what Rinko did. But for some reason, seeing her get a great score on a Level 13 song while he’s struggling to even pass a Level 9 song didn’t sit well with him.

“The next song is the final one so… I’ll let you pick the song, Akkun…” 

“...” Akito was silent. He stared intensely at Rinko’s score before the countdown timer brought them both back to the song selection screen.

“Akkun?” Rinko turned her attention away from the screen and towards Akito, before she tilted her head due to the way that he was acting.

“Nothing. Anyways…” Akito pulled his vision away from Rinko’s screen and began searching for a random song that he likes.

...At least, that was what it looked like to Rinko. 

“I guess this will do.” He selected the song and waited for Rinko to pick her difficulty. This time, Rinko decided to go a level up from her previous level.

“Alright… Are you ready, Akk-” Right as she was about to finish her sentence, Akito quickly chose the same difficulty as her and confirmed it, making it unchangeable. Seeing that, Rinko’s face turns grim.

“A-A-Akkun? What did you just…”

“ ...Even I can… ” Akito mumbled, before he did a retake and said the words that he wanted to say out loud, “Even I can play on your level! Watch me, I’ll show you what the power of darkness could do!” 

The fired up look on his face scared Rinko. Not because he looked scary or anything, but because she could imagine what that face would look like once the song finishes.

* * *

Which led to Akito’s current state, a few minutes after they had just finished playing the game.

“A barrage of flying notes… Quick left and right turns while still tapping the normal notes… Hell, the whole map was spinning around uncontrollably… Was I trying to fight the demon lord…?” Akito recalled, his usual loud volume reduced to a mumble before he started to fall deeper into depression.

“I should have listened to you… I shouldn’t have gotten ahead of myself… Ha… Haha...” 

A continuous laugh full of despair started to leak out from Akito’s mouth, making Rinko grow more concerned.

“I-It’s fine! With enough practice... you’ll be able to clear that level with ease!” Rinko said in an attempt to cheer him up, but it didn’t seem to have too much of an effect though, as the look of despair still stuck to his face as he replied.

“It’s fine, Rinrin… Thanks for trying to cheer me up… But, no matter how much I practice, I doubt I’ll be able to clear that hell…”

“Y-You can do it!” Rinko took hold of Akito’s hands the second she finished her sentence, before continuing.

“The Akkun I know wouldn’t let something as simple as that stop him… Right?” Rinko asked with a gentle smile before continuing. “And besides, what I said wasn’t a lie… Everyone started from somewhere… and their hard work and practice allowed them to be able to get to the top and play harder songs…”

“It’s kind of like NFO in a certain way… You’ll have to grind and work hard to be able to level up and defeat a monster that’s a higher level than you, right? The same goes for this...”

“So, it’s like you’re trying to grind for exp on lower songs to be able to play harder songs?” Akito asked, to which Rinko nodded. “That’s right…!”

Hearing that managed to lighten up Akito’s face a little bit, but he still had a visible gloom around him as he asked Rinko a question.

“Then… how come you’re able to play high level songs so quickly?”

“W-Well…” Rinko was in a bind. She didn’t want to tell him the reason as to why she was able to play at that level so quickly since she felt that her reason was embarrassing, but at the same time, she didn’t want to make Akito feel bad about starting out at a lower level than her. Because of that, she forced herself to ignore her embarrassment and told him her reason.

“That was because I… looked at some videos of people playing the game online before I came here… and because I tried playing along to the song’s chart at home…” She said with a slight tint of pink from the embarrassment of admitting it. Her full answer had a “...with a homemade controller” at the end, but she opted to leave that part out and continued speaking.

“That’s why… With more practice, I’m sure you’ll be able to play along with me at the same level…” After listening to her explanation, Akito’s gloomy expression had mostly disappeared and his usual cheery behaviour seemed to be slowly returning to him. 

“I see… Thanks, Rinrin. I feel a lot better now.” He formed a small smile, to which Rinko replied back with her own. 

“No problem. If you ever feel like playing the game anymore to practice… Feel free to invite me to come with you… I’ll help you out with things you might need help with.” 

“I can’t bother you with that! I’m sure that there’s other things that you’d rather do, right?”

“It isn’t a bother… After all... playing with you was fun, so I wouldn’t mind coming back here to play with you again…” Her response took Akito by surprise for some reason, making his heart skip a beat. Although what Rinko said wasn’t anything out of the usual, Akito couldn’t help but to get flustered by it.

“I-I see… I guess I’ll take your word then...” The flushed look on Akito’s face as he mumbled that out managed to make Rinko worry if he’s alright, but before she could ask him anything, Akito spoke up after noticing a small detail.

“Now… C-Could you let go of my hands now? It’s kinda embarrassing for some reason…” Akito said as he looked away from Rinko in an attempt to hide his face from her. After hearing what Akito said, she realised that she had been holding onto Akito’s hands for the whole time. In an instant, Rinko quickly turned red from embarrassment and pulled away her hands from his.

“S-Sorry…” Rinko said, stuttering as she faced the opposite direction of where Akito was looking at.

“D-Don’t worry about it…”

Anyone could see the awkward air between the two of them, but for them, that air was something that they didn’t mind for some reason. Sooner or later, the awkwardness disappeared, and they both let out a laugh when they turned around to meet each other at almost the exact same time.

“Hahaha… What the heck are we doing!” Akito said, trying to calm himself down from his laughter. Rinko herself was trying to let her giggle die down as she replied.

“Who knows…!”

Once their laughter slowly dissipated from the both of them, the two were left with smiles on their faces as they looked at each other. They didn’t say a word to each other, nor did they move an inch. At that moment, the two of them were silently enjoying each other’s company, with the two of them having their own thoughts going through their head. They stayed that way for a good minute until Akito spoke up, rising from the bench that they were sitting on.

“Now then… I guess that’s enough sitting around! Do you wanna go and get that thing you were talking about earlier now?” He asked, offering Rinko a hand for her to stand up. 

“Sure…!” Rinko takes up his offer and Akito pulls her up gently off from the bench, letting go of her hand right when she managed to stabilize herself properly, before saying to her, “Well then, lead the way~!”

* * *

The two headed over to the crane game section, which wasn’t that far from where they entered the arcade from. As they were walking along the rows of UFO Catcher machines in the area, Akito asked Rinko a question.

“So, what were you thinking of getting?”

“Well… do you remember that old NFO campaign from a while back... where they had those jumbo plushies for certain bosses...?”

“You mean the one where you’ll get a code for a wearable cosmetic item of the plush in game with each plush you get?”

“Yeah… that one. They’re running a new campaign with different bosses now, and since I wasn’t able to get them during the first run… I wanted to try and get them now while I can…” Rinko said as she started looking around for the machine that had them. 

“They’re releasing them one by one... like the original one did though… so I have to come back again for them all…” She added with a sigh soon after.

“I see… Well, if you don’t want to go alone, you can always invite me you know? I’m always open!” Akito said with a grin as he started looking around for the machine as well. Hearing that made Rinko form a small smile as she replied.

“Thanks, Akkun… I guess I’ll take you up on your offer... when they come out then...”

“No problem! ...Ah, isn’t that the machine over there?” Akito pointed out to a UFO Catcher machine at the end of a row of similar machines, not far away from the photo booth machines right outside the crane game area. Rinko took a look at the machine Akito pointed at, before nodding her head and confirming it. 

“Yes… That’s the one…” After hearing that confirmation, the two headed over to the machine in a slightly quicker pace than before.

Inside the machine was a banner highlighting the machine’s collaboration with NFO, as well as a picture of the prize, which was a jumbo plushie of the dragon field boss that the whole of Roselia stumbled upon when they were playing NFO together a while back. 

A wall of the same plushie being lined up right next to each other as display was at the back of the machine, behind the plushie that was in place on the middle of two rods at the middle of the machine. 

The rods had a large enough gap in between the two of them for the plushie to fall in if tilted correctly. Asides from that gap, there’s no other way for the plushie to fall down into the prize chute as the gaps on the other sides of the rods that aren’t facing each other are too small for the prize to fit in. 

“Woah, the dragon plush looks pretty cool…!” Akito stares in awe at the plushie from behind the glass.

“...Do you want to try… to get it?” Rinko asked after seeing the look on Akito’s face.

“Really? Then… Don’t mind if I do!” Akito said as he took a few hundred yen out from his wallet and inserted them into the machine. Once he was done, a small tune played and the timer near the two buttons to control the claw started counting down from 60, going down by one at every second.

“...So, what am I supposed to do?” Akito asked, a few seconds after the tune had passed. During those few seconds, he had been standing still, staring at the two buttons near the timer.

“You’ve never played this before...?” Rinko asked, surprised by what Akito asked.

“Nope. I don’t play these kinds of games because I usually see Nii-san try and fail whenever I tag along with him when he hangs out with Hii-chan.”

“...J-Just because of that…?”

“Yup. Afterall, if Nii-san struggles to win, then the game is either too hard or it’s rigged.” Akito replied in a completely serious tone.

_ Tomo-san… _ At that moment, Rinko instantly imagined Tomo’s struggles as he tried to win in front of Himari. The painful looks of support from both Akito and Himari must have been killing him on the inside the more he fails to win the prize.

“Well… I’ll start with the basic controls then...” Rinko got a little bit closer towards Akito and the machine so that she could point out the controls.

“The button on the left is to move the claw forwards… while the one on the right moves it to the right… You have to press on the buttons in order... from left to right to move the claw...”

“Once you let go of the right button... the claw will drop down a few seconds after stopping, so you have to make sure that you have an idea on when to stop it… so that it catches onto the plush…” Rinko added, before she pointed over at the gap in between the two rods and continued.

“You’ll want to tilt the plush… so that it’s in the right position to fall down into the prize chute. I recommend that you try aiming for the waist first and work from there...” 

“I see… Well, I guess I’ll give it a-” Right when Akito was about to finish his sentence with a grin, the claw came down right in front of him, leaving a dumbfounded look on his face.

_ The countdown timer… _ The two of them thought of the same thing after witnessing what had just happened. 

“...” The two of them were silent. No one knew what to say in response to the claw dropping without them even making a move. The few hundred yen that Akito had put in had already gone to waste without even doing anything.

“...A-Ahaha… I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to the timer.” It was Akito who broke that silence between the two of them. He scratched his cheek sheepishly out of embarrassment, before continuing. “Let me just put in a few more coins…”

“I-I’m sorry…” said Rinko as Akito went to put in a few hundred more yen into the machine. 

Hearing Rinko’s sudden apology, Akito replied as he stopped his action. “What for?” The second he finished his sentence, he continued inserting coins into the machine until it finally sounded that same tune from earlier.

“I-I mean… You wouldn’t have ran out of time… If I didn’t take so long to explain things to you…” Rinko had an apologetic look on her face as she answered. In response to the look on Rinko’s face, Akito replied.

“Nah, it’s fine! It’s also my fault for not asking you about how to play before I put in the coins, so you don’t have to feel bad or apologize.” 

Hearing that didn’t make Rinko feel any better though.

“But…” She mumbled, still sounding apologetic. Seeing that she still felt bad about it, Akito started to think of a way to get her mood back to normal, and quickly came up with a solution.

“Then… If you feel that bad about it, then why don’t we stop by a cafe after this before we head to the store? You can buy me a drink there and we’ll be even.” Akito said with a grin. After a few seconds of thinking, Rinko accepted Akito’s suggestion and finally formed a smile on her face.

“Then… I’ll do that then.” Seeing that things had finally cleared up, it was time for Akito to challenge the machine. With a small smirk on his face, he started spouting out a few chunni lines as he began to control the claw to the plush.

“With the power of darkness, I shall capture you and make you my servant, as I, Demon King Akito-”

“Akkun, now…!”

“A-Ah, right!” Hearing Rinko’s sudden voice allowed for Akito to snap out of his overly long chant and to let go of the claw’s controls, with the claw itself almost missing the plush. 

“Thanks, Rinrin. You saved me...” Akito said with a sigh of relief as he focused his attention onto the claw as it came down from the top to grab onto the plush. Rinko replied with a quick “No problem…” before focusing her attention on the plush. 

The claw grabbed onto the plush, before lifting it up into the air for a few inches until the claw lost grip and the plush fell. The plush bounced once and managed to land itself leg, or rather, tail side down into the gap in between the two rods. 

The only thing preventing the plush from falling into the prize chute was its big head, which was barely unable to pass through the gap in between the two rods.

“Ah, I’m close!” said Akito in a loud voice when he sees the plush’s position before continuing, “I could probably make it fall down if I gave it a slight push using the claw…”

_ T-That was some real good luck…  _ Thought Rinko while Akito was busy putting in more coins into the machine, tune playing once again after it was enough. Rinko was surprised to see Akito being able to get the plush into such a good position in just one try, considering that it was his first time playing the game. Granted, she did tell him when to stop the claw, but even then, it wouldn’t have made too much of a difference considering that the bounce that the plush did was the reason why it got into such a good position in the first place. 

The only thing you can say about it was that it really was just beginner’s luck. 

“Come on…” Akito mumbled as he focused on the claw, waiting for the right moment to stop so that he could use the claw to push down the plush. Right when it looked like he was about to overshoot the plush and miss, he lets go of the button. He followed the claw as it went down with his eyes completely stuck on it until it finally reaches the plush, with him holding his breath. 

The push from the claw, which seemed weak to anyone watching, somehow managed to get the plush to fall into the prize chute, even though the plush looked like it still needed a few more pushes to finally fall down. Seeing the plush fall managed to make Akito’s eyes seemed as if they were sparkling as he cheered from his success.

“I got it!” He went straight for the prize chute and took out the plush, holding it up and staring at it like a kid who just got a big stuffed bear that he wanted for Christmas. “This looks so cool…!” He mumbled to himself as he looked around the plush and took in the details. Seeing Akito get that plush with just a single push managed to surprise Rinko once again though.

“C-Congratulations, Akkun…” She said, stuttering. Although she was surprised by how easy it was for Akito to win the plush, when she saw the excited look on Akito’s face as he celebrated his win, she couldn’t help but form a smile right after she congratulated him.

“Thanks!” Akito replied with a grin on his face as he continued to admire the plush in front of him, before he suddenly came up with a fun little idea to make Rinko smile. 

“RAAWR! RAAWR!” Without Rinko realising it herself, the plush was just a foot or two away from her face, with it making some dragon-like noises as it began to move around like a dragon.

“...Huh?” Rinko was caught off guard by it, but when she realised that Akito was pretending to be a dragon by using the plush to cover his face and by moving the plush’s joints using his fingers, she couldn’t help but start to giggle.

“A-Akkun..! What are you…! Ahaha...!” Hearing her react that way, Akito moved the plush a little bit to his side to have a peek at Rinko. What he saw was Rinko, holding her stomach in a fit of laughter from Akito’s little act. 

She was trying hard to resist her laughter, but as Akito continued on pretending to be a dragon, she gave up and let her laughter loose, something that Akito rarely saw coming from her. The radiant look on her face managed to make Akito freeze for a moment, with him feeling warm inside as he marveled at her. 

And although he was screaming deep inside of him about how cute Rinko was, a quick thought passed through his head when he saw that cheerful smile right in front of him,

_ ...I want to protect that smile. _

Though, he made sure that he didn’t get caught up with his thought and waited for Rinko to calm herself down before he finally decided to stop his small act.

“RAAAAWWR!” He brought the plush closer to him, making it sound one final roar before he handed the plush to Rinko right afterwards.

“Here!”

“Eh...? What..?” Rinko had a confused look on her face. Seeing that, Akito tilted his head slightly to the side and repeated.

“I’m giving this to you. You wanted it, right?”

“I-I did… But, didn’t you want this as well…?”

“Well… While I wouldn’t mind owning one, I didn’t particularly want it for myself.”

“Then... Why did you play to get it...?”

“Hmm? Because it looked fun?” 

... _ That answer really fits him _ . Rinko thought. And while Rinko was hesitant on accepting the plush at first, considering that Akito did spend quite a bit for it, she eventually gave in after seeing Akito’s expectant eyes waiting for her to grab it.

“Thanks, Akkun… I’ll take good care of it...” She said after receiving the plush. The warm smile on her face as she moved her face closer to the plush that she kept close to her chest, as well as the light tint of pink on her cheeks managed to captivate Akito for a good, long moment. Seeing that cute being in front of him made him ignore the outside world as he began to lose himself in his thoughts until Rinko snapped him back to reality.

“Akkun?”

“N-Nothing… A-Anyways, how about we head to that cafe now?” He asked, turning away before trying to run away towards the door before Rinko stopped him by gently grabbing onto his shirt’s back. 

“W-Wait… Before that…”

“Hmm? Was there something else you wanted to do?” Akito asked as soon as he turned back, only to see Rinko looking away from him, her face oddly red.

“W-Well… I-If you don’t mind… C-Could we go into t-that…?” Rinko said, stuttering as she pointed towards the photo booth machines not far away from them.

“The photo booth machine…?” Akito tilted his head in confusion.

“O-Oh, but if you don’t want to, i-it’s fine...!” Rinko looked as if her eyes were spinning around as she spoke with her face being red all over, along with her her stuttering. Seeing her like that, Akito couldn’t help but worry about her..

“...Rinrin, are you okay?”

“Y-Yesh! T-Totally fine…!” Rinko straightened herself as she responded, albeit, she stumbled a bit with her words. Even though she said that, Akito still wasn’t convinced as he stared right at her.

“You don’t seem like it…” Akito moved his hand, trying to check on Rinko’s temperature by placing his hand on her forehead. But right when his hand was about to get close, Rinko grabbed hold of it and stopped him.

“I-I’m really fine…! Anyways… W-What’s your response…?” She asked, looking right up into Akito’s eyes. Her watery eyes, from what Akito didn’t know was embarrassment, managed to make him give up on any further questions and reply.

“...Sure.” The second he said that, Rinko breathed a sigh of relief as she lets go of Akito’s hand. While there was still a tint of red on her face, Rinko looked a lot better than before Akito gave his answer. As much as he’s curious as to why she acted the way she did, Akito decided that it’ll be better if he didn’t ask her. Still, he couldn’t help but scratch his head about it.

“Thank you… Well, let’s go…!” She said with a smile on her face as she started walking to where the machines were, with Akito trailing behind her.

* * *

“That’s the way, Rinko! Good job!” Not far from where Akito and Rinko were, a brunette with a ponytail hairstyle silently cheered from the corner of a UFO catcher machine after seeing Rinko’s success. The girl with teal hair that was right beside her sighed, before mumbling out.

“Why am I here again…?”

Hearing that response, the brunette looked towards the girl and replied,

“Don’t say that, Sayo! You’re worried about how Rinko would do too, right?”

“While I am worried about her, I wouldn’t go as far as to actually follow her on their trip together.” Sayo looked at Lisa with an unamused look on her face.

“Still, you came and followed them, right?” Lisa said with a smirk on her face, to which Sayo responded.

“That’s because I had to make sure that you two wouldn’t disturb them nor get noticed by them.”

“You worry too much, Sayo! We would have been fine on our own.” Lisa responded, before she looked back and asked. 

“Right, Yuu?” Though, when she did look back, Yuu was nowhere to be seen.

“Yuu? Where did he go?” Lisa went looking around for Yuu, but Sayo quickly spotted him at a catcher machine not far from where they were. She wasn’t so impressed by what she saw though.

“...Over there.” Sayo called out and pointed to where Yuu was. Lisa turned and looked at the direction that Sayo was pointing towards, and the second she found Yuu, she began to feel as if her whole entire existence was melting away.

_ Yuu… You’re too god damn adorable for your own good… _ She thought as she began melting on the spot from seeing Yuu so focused on the prize inside of the claw machine, which was a pillow in the shape of a cat’s head. Her thoughts began to run wild, and it didn’t seem as if it was going to stop anytime soon.

* * *

“...mai-san... “

“...Imai-san! Get a hold of yourself!” Sayo called out as she shook Lisa’s body back and forwards to snap her out of her fantasies.

“R-Right… Sorry, Sayo.” Lisa responded after finally being brought back to reality. Sayo sighed after finally having Lisa with her, and was getting ready to start lecturing her about how bad it would have been if she were to get spotted by Rinko and Akito, or anyone else for that matter, in her dazed form until Lisa moved Sayo’s hands off her shoulder and started moving to where Yuu was.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Lisa said as she left Sayo behind.

“Imai-san!” Sayo wanted to call her back, but at that point, she knew that it was already too late. The fiery look in Lisa’s eyes was all she needed to know that whatever words she was about to say to her would have had no effect to whatever she’s planning on doing. Sayo could only look back and sigh.

_ Really… Why am I here again… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to god, making this chapter and editing it took a bit longer than I expected www.  
I think I'm still uploading this on a Monday on some part of the world, but regardless, I guess I apologize for being a bit late www.
> 
> A little detail about that plushie they both got at the arcade: While I did wrote that the dragon plushie was the field boss from the NFO event, in the actual story, there was no actual mention about what kind of monster was the field boss. 
> 
> I turned the dragon I was thinking of, which is the dragon you’d see in the event story of “Piercing the Darkness, A Blue Rose’s Pride” into the field boss of the event because I thought that the dragon looked cool when I saw pics of the scene in the event and because I thought it’d fit as a boss inside that dungeon they went in. Hope you don’t mind that~
> 
> Anyways, huge thanks to Kira-sensei for helping me proofread this chapter! He noticed so much of my errors that I feel happy that I made him take a look at it before I decided to upload it onto here~ He also suggested that little cute skit that Akito did with the plush as he was proofreading, and because of that, I really can't thank him enough ww.
> 
> Since it's close to 2AM, I don't really know what else to say, other than thanks for reading!


	6. A small flashback

“Let the “Operation: Rinko’s confession” meeting, begin!” said Lisa with a cheer. She was loud enough that other people at the tables near her could hear what she was saying, but she didn’t really mind it herself. The other two who were at the same table as her did, however.

“Imai-san, your voice is too loud!” 

“I-Imai-san, your voice…”

Sayo and Rinko spoke up at the same time in response to Lisa’s cheer, with Rinko looking red and Sayo looking as if she’s right about to start a long lecture session for Lisa. 

It was the day before Rinko asked Akito out to help her, and the whole of Roselia asides from Akito decided to head to the family restaurant they always headed to after they finished their practice for the day. 

Akito had something to do at home, so he had to get back early. That was the perfect situation for them to head to the restaurant together without looking suspicious to Akito. 

Sayo wasn’t really keen on joining in after being told the purpose of them heading to the family restaurant, but after Lisa insisted for her to come along, as well as some “minor” bribes which may or may not be related to fries, she decided to tag along. 

Yuu was dragged along by Lisa as well, but due to his actions at the studio a few days back, he wasn’t allowed to speak during the meeting. He didn’t mind that for some reason though.

“Sorry, sorry. Anyways, let’s get this started! First off, Rinko, just to reconfirm, you’ve been wanting to confess for a while, right?” Lisa asked with a grin. In response, Rinko looked away and replied, the blush from earlier still on her face.

“Y-Yes… That’s right… I’ve wanted to do it for a while now… But I never seemed to have found the right timing...”

“Which means you’ve attempted to confess before, right? If you don’t mind, could you tell us of the times that you tried to confess? For example, where the two of you were and such?” 

Sayo asked as she munched on the extra large basket of fries right in front of her. Even though she wasn’t really looking forward to joining the conversation at first, she seemed to be taking it seriously now that she’s there.

“W-Well... there was this one time…” Rinko began to recall back to a moment a few weeks back.

* * *

“Practice sure was fun today!” Akito said as he stretched out his arms in front of him while he continued walking. Rinko was beside him, a smile forming on her face from agreeing with Akito’s thoughts.

“It sure was. Yuu-san’s voice… sounded as powerful as always…”

“Lisa-nee’s playing sounded amazing too! Same goes for Sayo-san!” Akito said with a grin on his face. 

The two of them were heading back home together side by side after band practice for the day, chatting with each other while keeping a calm and relaxing walking pace so that they’d have more time to talk. 

Akito was going off about band practice and NFO as usual, while Rinko was responding to his liveliness with her usual smile and short comments. It was like any other day for the two of them, and the two of them didn’t mind that. 

Soon, a natural break occurred in between their conversation as they continued walking back home. 

Rinko was more than satisfied with the air between the two of them, but when she saw a worried look show up on Akito’s face as they walked, a look that was pretty rare for Rinko to see mind you, Rinko became concerned and decided to ask him what’s going on.

“Akkun… Is something wrong…?”

“Huh?” 

“You have a worried look on your face…” Akito himself was unaware of the kind of face that he was making, but when Rinko pointed it out, he realised that Rinko was starting to get concerned about him. He didn’t want to worry her without saying anything, so he decided to tell her what’s been on his mind.

“Well… I guess I’m a little bit worried about something.” Curious about what it is, Rinko asked.

“Would you mind telling me about it...?”

“Well… It’s about Nii-san… Lately, I have a feeling that he’s been making Hii-chan feel angry, or rather, annoyed with him a little bit too much without even realising it himself…”

“It’s just the small stuff for now, but if this keeps up, I’m afraid that they’ll eventually get into a fight with each other…” Akito said, sighing.

“That sounds bad… But, what was he doing to make her feel annoyed towards him in the first place...?” Rinko asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

From the times that Rinko managed to talk with the both of them and see their interactions with each other, the two of them seemed to have a healthy relationship with each other. They barely had any serious fights whatsoever aside from the usual teasing by Tomo and the usual pouting by Himari that you’d almost always see when you’re around them.

“Well... There were one or two times recently where he had to cancel their date because he forgot that he already made earlier plans without letting Hii-chan know until the last minute… And just a few days ago, he almost forgot about their anniversary in front of Hii-chan…”

“But, he’s been so preoccupied with work and his other responsibilities lately that I couldn’t blame him for forgetting, even if it really was his fault! And while I’m sure Hii-chan knows about that too, I can understand why she’d feel peeved about it…”

“They’re rarely going out with each other lately too, considering how busy he is... “ Akito sighed.

“That sounds complicated... “ Rinko commented, sharing Akito’s worries now that she heard about the situation.

“It is… I hope that nothing bad happens… I really don’t want to see the two of them getting into a fight...” The worried look stayed on Akito’s face for a while, and while he shouldn’t really worry much about it, he couldn't help but do so, which prompted Rinko to speak up to try and make his worries disappear.

"...To be honest… I think that even if they were to get into a fight with each other… I think you shouldn't worry about it too much, Akkun." She said with a calm voice as she looked up in front of her, towards the leaves of the trees that they were passing under. Upon hearing Rinko say that, Akito couldn’t help but be curious as to what she meant.

"Why?"

"Well… if you love someone, then eventually… No matter how happy or in love you are with each other… You're bound to get into an argument or a fight." She said with a calm, earnest voice, with her now looking at a leaf from the trees above glide down gently, before continuing, 

"But… It's up to you on whether or not the two of you would be able to make up with each other… to decide if your bond with each other will continue to grow stronger… or be severed…" 

Right as she finishes her sentence, a slight gust of wind manages to send the leaf flying far away, away from Rinko’s sight. Seeing the leaf go, Rinko formed a smile as she continued speaking, 

“If you manage to make up with each other… then you might find that your bonds together would be stronger than before... And if you couldn’t make up with each other and it leads to something like a breakup… then maybe it would be for the best…”

"Because of that, I think you shouldn't worry about them too much… You should know why the best, right?" Rinko looked on over Akito with a smile on her face. Seeing her smile managed to make him form a smile on his face as well, before answering her with an energetic voice.

"...Yeah, you're right! I’m sure Nii-san and Hii-chan would be able to make up with each other! I guess I shouldn't worry too much after all!" He ended his sentence with a laugh, but soon, his smile returned back to his gloomy look from before, his worries coming from something else this time.

"...But, even if I do say that, I can't help but feel scared… Not of the thought of Nii-san and Hii-chan being unable to make up or anything, but that I won't be able to do so when I finally find someone... " Akito sighed before continuing,

"I know that it can happen to anyone, even with friends for that matter, but I'm worried that when it happens to me, I won't be able to make up with her or something…" seeing Akito worry over something he didn’t have to, Rinko couldn’t help to let out a small giggle before calming herself down and asking him a question.

"Akkun, Let's say that something like that happens to you and whoever you're with... If you two were to get into a fight… Even if it isn't your fault at all... Would you still want to make up with her?" 

She asked in a calm, gentle voice, almost as if she was asking a kid. In response, Akito quickly answered.

"I do!"

"Even if you'll have to apologize even though you did nothing...?" Rinko looked towards Akito and tilted her head while asking. Akito’s answer meanwhile, came as fast as before.

"Yeah!"

"...That's your answer then." Rinko said with a wide smile before turning her attention back in front of her. Akito didn’t seem to understand what she meant, though.

"Huh...?" Hearing his confusion, Rinko decided to tell him her answer a bit more clearly.

"As long as one of you wants to make up with the other, I think you shouldn't have to worry… You'll eventually make up with each other without even knowing it…"

"...How do you know?" Akito didn’t seem to believe it, but Rinko quickly answered to prove it to him.

"Well… it happened with us before right…?" She asks, wondering if Akito remembers about the time that the two of them got into a small fight, or rather, argument with each other. He had to take a few seconds to try and recall it, but eventually, he remembers.

"...Ah! You mean that time we got into a small fight with each other over the Ultra Rare monster drop in the Sky Dungeon?"

"Yeah… That's one. We eventually made up with each other… Right?" Rinko looked at Akito and formed a smile when she remembered how the two of them made up.

"Yeah! But… is it really that simple…? There really isn’t any other tricks that I should know?” Akito asked, still unsure if things were really that simple. But when he saw Rinko giving him a nod, and after thinking about her earlier explanation and accepting it, his face lit up, and the worried look that he had on his face disappeared completely.

“I see… I guess I really shouldn’t worry then! Thanks, Rinrin!” He thanked her with a huge grin, which made her form a small smile of her own as she responded to him,

“No problem... I’ll still hope that both Tomo-san and Uehara-san would be able to settle their problems without fighting…”

“Yeah!” Akito responded cheerfully. 

There was a nice and peaceful silence between the two of them afterwards as they continued walking back home, but not long after the original topic had ended, Akito spoke up once again, this time about something that Rinko didn’t really expect. 

“But still… After we’ve talked all about this, although things like what’s happening with Hii-chan and Nii-san happens to everyone, and while it is a little bit scary, I still don’t think I would mind being in a relationship.” 

Hearing Akito suddenly talk about relationships took Rinko a little bit off guard, but regardless, she continued on listening to him.

“Sharing fun times together, going through hard times together, just supporting each other… After seeing Nii-san together with Hii-chan, I can’t help but feel that ‘Ah… I want to be with someone too!’”

“I wonder if I’ll ever get to experience that someday…” Akito said, sighing before he shouted out, 

“Ah, I want to be in love!”

Hearing that, Rinko couldn’t help but speak up.

“...T-Then, what about me…?” 

The second she managed to get those words out, she stopped herself from walking and looked away from Akito, her face feeling hotter and hotter by the second. It was a bold thing for her to say, so much so that it seemed out of character for her. 

But she couldn’t help but to try and confess at that moment. After all, her feelings had been pent up for quite a while, and it was about time she finally let her feelings out.

Though, after actually saying that out loud, she immediately began to regret it. Thoughts came rushing into her head at rapid fire speed, accompanied by the hard, loud beating of her heart, feeling as if it could go out of her chest at any second with how hard it’s beating. 

She waited for Akito’s response for what felt to her like an eternity, and although it only took a few seconds, she finally got her answer after waiting for so long.

...It just wasn’t the answer that she was looking for though.

“...Ah, I’m sure you’ll experience it too someday, Rinrin!” Akito said with a smile on his face, oblivious to what Rinko actually meant.

“...H-Huh? A-Akkun, that’s not what I-” As much as Rinko tried to desperately correct him and tell him what she meant, Akito cuts her off and continued.

“Afterall, you’re pretty cute, so I’m sure someone will ask you out soon!” 

The look on Akito’s face was the complete opposite of the look on Rinko’s. 

Hearing that response made Rinko feel dumbfounded, and she froze in place with her expression locked in shock, not only from her failed attempt at confessing, but from Akito’s shocking denseness.

Rinko was stuck there for a good while until she finally managed to will herself back to normal and continue the walk back home.

* * *

“Is he some kind of protagonist?!” Sayo couldn’t help but shout that out in retort from hearing Rinko’s story. The ridiculousness of that moment even managed to get Sayo disappointed in Akito for a fair bit. She was about to go on and complain, but after realising that the eyes of the other customers in the restaurant were on her due to her sudden shout, she held back and composed herself.

“Excuse me… I get your troubles now.”

“Ah, there’s a few more times... that I tried to-”

“It’s fine, Shirokane-san. You don’t need to give any more examples, I think I got the problem pretty clearly.” Sayo said before she took a sip of her drink and continued, “He’s dense. A little bit too dense for his own good. That’s why, I think it’ll be best if you went for a straightforward confession next time so that he can clearly see your feelings. Maybe give him a kiss or something to make it painfully obvious. Though, I do realise that it might be too much for you.”

“K-Kiss? M-Me? Impossible, impossible, impossible! Just confessing straightforwardly is too embarrassing for me… And if I were to kiss him to… I think I’ll die…!” Rinko exclaimed, her eyes looking as if there were spirals spinning on it from being overloaded.

“That’s an over exaggeration…” Sayo mumbled as she continued on munching on her fries before Lisa came in and gave her two cents.

“Now, now. Asides from that last part, I do agree with what Sayo’s saying. From the sound of it, it looks like you’ll have to take a direct approach and confess to him straight on instead of doing it indirectly. Which means…”

“You’ll have to go on a date!” Lisa said enthusiastically with a grin, eyes sparkling from the thought of it. She was about to continue until Sayo cuts her off.

“Hold on a minute. Don’t you think it’ll be a better idea to somehow make Udagawa-san aware of his feelings first? From the looks of it, as well as after hearing what was said at the session from a few days ago, Udagawa-san might feel the same way as Shirokane-san, it’s just that he doesn’t realise it. Shouldn’t we make him realise that first before planning on confessing?” 

After hearing what Sayo had to say, Lisa took a step back and thought about it a bit more , before finally agreeing with Sayo. She was about to suggest a new plan when Yuu, who had been drinking his coffee in silence, spoke up.

“If it’s that, then that’s been done. Or rather, he’s already starting to realise it bit by bit.”

“What do you mean?’ Instead of calling Yuu out for speaking even though he wasn’t allowed to, Sayo questioned what he said. 

In response, Yuu took a quick sip of his coffee before he placed it back down on his saucer on the table and spoke.

“That session that you mentioned. Haven’t you noticed anything different about Akito’s actions since then?” 

Sayo thought about Akito’s behavior lately, and sure enough, she managed to find something different.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it… He does seem to be a bit more cautious of his actions around Shirokane-san…” Sayo mumbled out.

“Ah, I noticed that too! He’s been less clingy to Rinko compared to before. He’d usually be fine with just randomly hugging her from the back or casually pulling her along by the hand, but he’s starting to avoid that and he’s even starting to get flustered about it lately.” Lisa chimed in, a look of amazement on her face.

_ I become a nervous wreck whenever that happens, even before he started getting flustered about it though… _ Rinko thought, a wry smile forming on her face for a quick few seconds.

When Yuu saw the looks on both of their faces, a small smirk formed on his face before he spoke.

“See what I mean?” Yuu took a sip of his coffee with that smirk of his. Question marks were floating above Lisa and Sayo’s heads about the reason to Akito’s sudden change in attitude, but Rinko almost immediately knew the reason why.

“Yuu-san, don’t tell me… did you plan all of this out even from back then…?” Rinko asked after she realised the reason why Akito was acting the way he was. Hearing that, Yuu puts down his coffee cup back to his saucer and replied, a smuggish look on his face as he did.

“Perhaps.”

“Woah… I never expected Minato-san to be able to think of something like that… I really thought what he said at that session was just him being him…” Sayo mentioned in a sarcastic tone, a fake surprised look on her face.

“Who do you think I am?” Yuu looked at Sayo, an unamused look on his face. Before anything could go any further though, Lisa cuts in.

“Sorry, Yuu! Looks like I was wrong about your actions at that session… I never thought you thought that far ahead for Rinko...” Lisa said in an apologetic tone. Yuu didn’t really seem to mind though.

“It’s fine. More importantly, you should continue with that thing you mentioned earlier now that one problem is gone.” Yuu gave Lisa a small pat on her head before he goes back to drinking his coffee.

“R-Right! Now, about that date…” 

From that point on, they began discussing about Rinko’s date, as well as things to do on it. They decided that the sooner the date is, the better, so they picked out the date to be on the Saturday of that week. 

They thought about places that Rinko and Akito could go to on a date, but in the end, Rinko decided on a short and simple date nearby that’s fitting for both Akito and her. They ironed out things out and eventually, they managed to create a battle plan for Rinko’s date that seemed very promising, at least in Lisa’s eyes. 

While Rinko really did want to try out the photo-booth with Akito even before the meeting, she never seemed to be able to bring it up with him, so she had given up on it until Lisa gave her some tips on how she should try and get Akito to take a picture with her at the photo booths once the arcade came up as a date spot. 

There were other places and things that Lisa suggested, but that was one of the few things that made it into the plan. The rest were either suggested by Sayo or was thought up by Rinko herself. There’s a reason why that happened, but it’ll be better not to get into it.

Regardless, Lisa and Sayo gave Rinko some tips on how to confess without being too nervous and they wrapped up their meeting not long after, with Yuu opting to stay quiet for the rest of the session. .

* * *

_ Will Shirokane-san be alright…? _ Thought Sayo during the break in between her studies on the night that Rinko invited Akito out, a worried look showing on her face. Even with everything planned out beforehand, it all comes down to whether or not Rinko would be able to execute the plan without messing up in the first place. 

She’d like to believe and hope that everything goes as planned for the sake of her friend, but from the dizzy look on Rinko’s face when they finally finished wrapping things up, she’s starting to think that there might be a chance for her to slip up somewhere. 

Even though it might seem a little out of character for her, Sayo couldn’t help but overly worry for Rinko, considering that she seemed to be the kind of person who could possibly slip up when flustered or under pressure. At least, that was the impression that Sayo got coming from her.

As if it was waiting for this moment though, a new text notification sounded from Sayo’s phone, which was right beside her book on the table. 

She picked it up and opened the text message which came from Lisa, only to find the contents being pretty on-topic with what she’s thinking about.

Lisa: ‘Hey Sayo, are you still awake? I was wondering if you’d like to join me and Yuu on secretly following Rinko while she’s on her date~ (＠＾◡＾)’

Lisa: ‘I know that it might seem a bit weird or unnecessary, but to be honest, I’m worried about Rinko, you know?’

Lisa: ‘I feel worried about how her date is going to go and whether she’d succeed or not, and I figured that it would be better if I see it for myself instead of just waiting around for the news...’

Lisa: ‘What do you say? Wanna come along? |･ω･)’

_ ‘No thanks.’ _, Was what Sayo would like to reply with, but there were two things that made g her hesitate on sending it. 

One was her worry for Rinko, which could be kept off her mind if she were to follow along with the two of them. 

The other one was her genuine worry about what Lisa and Yuu could do to Rinko’s date as they followed her. Although she doesn’t have any evidence or valid reason herself, she had a feeling that they’ll somehow get noticed by both Rinko and Akito if left alone to their own devices.

Sayo tried to think about it for a good minute until she decided to give in.

Sayo: ‘...I’ll follow along. But I’ll only be there to monitor the two of you so that you wouldn’t get yourselves noticed by Rinko and Akito.’

Lisa: ‘Great! I’ll send you a text about where we’ll meet up later then. \\(^ヮ^)/’ 

After reading the reply Lisa sent, Sayo sighed to herself as she placed down her phone back onto her table, thinking that the conversation was done and it’s time she continued on with her studies. Not even a few seconds after doing so though, her phone rang once again with a new message from Lisa.

Lisa: ‘Also, what did you mean by that last one, Sayo? Even if it’s just me and Yuu, we wouldn’t let ourselves be caught by them, silly! (≧◡≦)’

* * *

“M-Miss!”

“JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE, JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE AND I WOULD GET IT!”

“It’s fine Lisa, you can stop now! You don’t have to try so hard! Hell, isn’t this supposed to be the other way around usually?!” 

“I HAVE TO GET THAT PILLOW FOR YOU NO MATTER WHAT! DON’T STOP ME, YUU!”

“You’re troubling the staff, and it looks like Rinko and Akito could be coming out at any second you know! Let’s go!”

“NO! I WON’T LEAVE UNTIL I GET THAT PILLOW FOR YOUUUUU!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAA, I'M SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO POST THIS CHAPTER ;-;
> 
> Over the last two weeks, I've been busy with more and more stuff in real life, as well as with studying for exams that I didn't manage to find time to review the comments Kira-sensei made on this chapter, as well as to edit and fix the chapter before the deadline I set for uploading chapters. In fact, I missed two deadlines this time, AAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> Not only that, since my exams still hasn't passed and are getting closer, I'm starting to think that I might not be able to make deadlines more frequently now. Because of that, I'm thinking of uploading these last few chapters every two weeks or so. Hopefully I'm able to at least keep up with that upload schedule, but just in case I don't, I hope you'll let it slide.
> 
> Anyways, enough of that. I've got to say, while this chapter was one of the quicker ones for me to write, this has got to be the chapter that took the longest for me to edit w.  
Now that I think about it, this could be considered a filler chapter too, but then again, is it really? Ok, I can't think straight and at this point, I think I'll just ramble off about something completely unrelated if I continue on.
> 
> Leaving that behind, I suppose I should stop talking here since it's pretty late.  
Once again, I'm sorry it took a while for me to upload this, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter~


	7. “NO! I WON’T LEAVE UNTIL I GET THAT PILLOW FOR YOUUUUU!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh... This took way too long to release... I'm sorry...  
More notes at the end. For now, please enjoy this chapter!

“M-Miss!” The woman who was wearing a staff uniform exclaimed, as she witnessed the shocking event right in front of her.

“JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE, JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE AND I WOULD GET IT!” Lisa said as she took out a few hundred more yen from her purse, shoving them into the machine as quickly as she could. 

Yuu was standing right beside her, troubled.

“It’s fine Lisa, you can stop now! You don’t have to try so hard! Hell, isn’t this supposed to be the other way around usually?!” 

“I HAVE TO GET THAT PILLOW FOR YOU NO MATTER WHAT! DON’T STOP ME, YUU!” Shouted Lisa as she continued to move the claw for the prize, dropping it the second she finished her sentence. The claw picked up the pillow, which was only a few inches away from the prize chute, only to fall off the claw once it neared the top and move a bit further away from its earlier position.

“COME ON! THAT WAS THE 10TH TIME ALREADY!” Sounded Lisa, her irritation visible on her face as she continued to stuff the machine with more coins. 

She had already wasted a few thousand yen on the machine, and the only progress that she made was bringing the pillow a little closer to the chute.

“Lisa, you’re troubling the staff, and it looks like Rinko and Akito could be coming out at any second you know! Let’s go!” Yuu tried to pull Lisa away from spending more money on the machine by grabbing her hand, but Lisa resisted, trying her hardest not to be moved away.

“NO! I WON’T LEAVE UNTIL I GET THAT PILLOW FOR YOUUUUU!” Said Lisa as she controlled the claw while resisting Yuu’s actions, letting go of it once she sees it on the pillow. She waited for the claw to grip onto the pillow and rise with it, only for the claw to let the pillow slip away just a few inches after lifting it.

“GOD DAMN IT!”

“...What the hell are those two idiots doing?” Mumbled Sayo with a tired sigh as she observed the two of them from afar. 

Somehow while Sayo was off thinking about something else, Lisa managed to get herself hooked onto the claw machine without realising it, all for the sake of getting that pillow for Yuu. Despite her efforts though, she still hadn't managed to get it for the life of her. Who knows how many thousands of yen had she spent on that machine.

While Sayo did feel pretty bad for Lisa, who kept trying and failing to win that pillow, she couldn’t stand to wait and see her continue any longer. With all the noise that Lisa was making, as well as the amount of time she’s been spending on that machine, it’s only a matter of time until both Yuu and her would be caught by Akito and Rinko. Sayo considered an attempt to help Yuu out by prying Lisa away from the machine along with him, but decided to scan her surroundings first before doing so. 

Looking back at the booth where Akito and Rinko went in, Sayo wanted to see if they were already finished taking pictures or if they had finished editing them, but when she saw the two of them happily walking back towards the claw machines from the photo booth, photos in their hands, she knew it was too late. 

Even if she were to intervene by trying to pry Lisa away from the machine or by persuading her to leave, seeing how the pair were already on their way back from the photobooths, they would still get caught by them regardless. Even if, by some miracle, Lisa were to suddenly snap out of her addiction and ran away to hide from the two of them, she still wouldn’t have enough time to do so without being caught. 

It’s a dead end for both her and Yuu.

Still, even if the two of them were to get caught, Sayo herself would still be safe for as long as they don’t mention her. Because of that, she went and hid herself somewhere far enough to prevent her from being spotted by both Rinko and Akito, before she quickly sent a few texts to Yuu. A warning message, you could call it.

Sayo: ‘Minato-san, Shirokane-san and Udagawa-san are heading towards your direction.’ Receiving the text notification buzz from his phone, Yuu took his eyes off Lisa and opened his phone, reading Sayo’s text right before her next one reaches him.

Sayo: ‘I think it’s already too late for you two to try and run away from them, but I’ll be safe from being noticed by them as long as you two don’t mention me. I’ll continue following them for you once you’ve been spotted.’

Yuu: ‘Alright.’ 

There was no need for her to explain her reason. Yuu quickly knew her reason as to why it would be best for her to continue on following them by herself, and so he swiftly sent a reply before shoving his phone back into his pocket once he saw Rinko and Akito coming near.

“Huh? Isn’t that Lisa-nee and Yuu-san? Hey~!” Said Akito as he continued walking towards them, waving to them with a smile. Rinko on the other hand had a curious look on her face.

_ Why are they here…? _She thought to herself, but she wasn’t able to continue that thought when Akito’s voice reached her ears.

“It’s pretty rare for us to cross paths with each other outside of band activities! What are you two doing here today?” Akito asked with sparkles in his eyes, almost as if he didn’t see the chaos happening in front of him. Since Lisa was preoccupied with the machine, having managed to slip away from Yuu’s grip during the time he texted Sayo, Yuu answered Akito’s question.

“A date. Lisa wanted to go on one today since it’s been a while, and she suggested heading to the arcade before we continued on somewhere else.” Yuu said with a tired look on his face before going on with his words.

“But… She’s been hooked on playing this crane game for a while now, and she isn’t letting anyone stop her until she wins that prize. If she spends any more time on this, I’m afraid that our date would have to be cut short... ” He sighed, a worn out smile forming on his face as he looked towards Lisa, whose look of determination unfading from her face. 

Although it was just an excuse so that Rinko and Akito wouldn’t know of their real reasons for coming here, Yuu couldn’t help but smile after seeing Lisa try so hard for him. Seeing that look on Yuu’s face, Akito spoke up.

“Want me to help? I may be new to playing crane games, but I managed to get a prize in just a few tries so I think I can try and pull it off for this one!” 

“Thanks, but I don't think you can. No matter what you say, she won’t let anyone else help her, much less get the prize for her, even if it's the staff offering her to move the pillow’s position to an easier one for her to win.” Yuu lets out another sigh before Lisa suddenly spoke up, her voice sounding as if she’s about to tear up.

“God damn it…! It still didn’t move an inch! And I’m running out of cash too… Why is this so hard…?” 

“Lisa, I really think it’s about time you stopped. I know you’re doing this for me and all, but I just can’t let you continue wasting your money like this.”

“But!-” Right when Lisa was about to reply, Akito came in and spoke up.

“Then, what if I give her advice on what to do instead of getting it for her? That way she can still get the prize herself while having a better shot on doing so!”

“I-I’ll help too...!” Rinko chimed in as well, offering her advice along with Akito’s.

“Like I said, she probably wouldn’t listen-”

“Advice? Tell me everything!”

“...Or I guess she would.” Yuu said with a dumbfounded look on his face after seeing Lisa do exactly the opposite of what he was expecting. 

As soon as Akito began to ramble off by giving Lisa tips on how to win the prize along with Rinko’s helpful translations and details, Yuu received another text message from Sayo. Taking a step back away from the three in front of them, he took out his phone and read the new text. 

Sayo: ‘What’s happening? I’ve been looking from afar and I can’t seem to understand what I’m seeing.’

Yuu: ‘Well, I managed to fool them into thinking that I’m on a date with Lisa instead of following them, but right now, they’re trying to help Lisa get that pillow by giving her advice and tips.’

Sayo: ‘...I see.’

Sayo didn’t know what to say, and while she’s glad that they weren’t found out by them, she didn’t know exactly what to make of the situation they’re in right now.

Yuu: ‘It looks like Lisa’s trying for it again. I’ll update you again later.’

Yuu shoved his phone back into his pocket when he saw Lisa trying for the pillow once again, but this time with Rinko and Akito cheering for her from behind. With the advice she’s gotten from the both of them, she inserted the few coins that she had left and began moving the claw for the pillow, for what might be her final try at the game. The claw slowly got into position, and as soon as it was about to reach the pillow, both Rinko and Akito shouted out,

““Now!””

Lisa lets go of the controls and the claw slowly dropped down towards the pillow, hooking onto it when the claw makes contact. The pillow rose up with the claw and managed to reach the top without falling in the process, and the claw slowly began moving, albeit it was wobbling around a lot as it did.

“Stop wobbling!” Lisa said in a grumble as she saw the claw move closer and closer to the prize chute. The pillow held on for longer than any of Lisa’s previous attempts, but right when it was nearing the chute, it began to slip. And sure enough, just a few centimeters away from being at the claw’s starting position, it fell.

Everyone held their breath as they saw the pillow fall, and right when it looked as if it was going to bounce off the glass divider and fall back into the play area, which would’ve added to Lisa’s frustrations, the pillow fell over into the chute instead.

“...I …I-I got it... ...I got it! I finally got it!” Lisa said, cheering out loud as she went and gave both Rinko and Akito a bear hug.

“Thanks to you two, I finally got it after so many tries! I just can’t thank you two enough! Come here!” She said cheerfully as she tightened her grip around the two of them. And while Akito seemed to be laughing away, happy for Lisa, Rinko seemed as if she was about to head over to the other side at any second.

“I-Imai-san… can’t… breathe…” Those faint words from Rinko managed to reach Lisa’s ears, and in an instant, Lisa snapped out of her celebrations. She looked at the almost lifeless Rinko before releasing both her and Akito from her own hug.

“S-Sorry, Rinko. I got carried away there.” Lisa said with an apologetic look on her face. Rinko, although she’s still coughing as she tried to recover, replied.

“*Cough**Cough* It’s fine, Imai-san… *Cough* I don’t mind it… I understand how you feel, and I feel happy for you as well. Congratulations...! *Cough*”

“Thanks, Rinko…! Honestly, no matter how many times I say this, I can’t thank you guys enough! Thanks, Rinko, Akito!”

“Sure!” Akito said with a big grin on his face, while Rinko gave a warm smile as her reply. The three of them smiled at each other before Lisa finally realised something.

“...Wait. Rinko? Akito? Wait, huh?! Since when?!”

“Hmm? Is something the matter, Imai-san...?” Rinko asked, tilting her head at Lisa’s sudden reaction. 

“N-No… Just that-” Right before Lisa could go on any further though, she got a tap on her shoulder from behind her. She turned around to see Yuu pointing to his phone, signaling her to check her phone. 

Seeing that, she did as she was told and took out her phone before finding a few text messages that came from Sayo a few minutes ago, as well as a few texts from Yuu which just came in. Thinking that Yuu wanted her to check his messages to her, she opened up his messages first and read it.

Inside the texts were a brief summary of what happened and what they should do from now on, as well as a warning to not let Sayo’s presence be found out. She quickly read it and was about to send a reply before she heard Rinko call out to her.

“Imai-san…?”

“N-Nothing! More importantly, what are you two doing here today?” Lisa asked the two of them as a way to avoid raising any more suspicion. Even though Rinko knows that Lisa knew of their plans and were aware of why they’re at the arcade, she decided to read between the lines and kept silent about, letting Akito answer.

“Ah, we were going to go shopping for some materials for our new costumes, and we decided to drop by the arcade before doing so!”

“I-I see… Well, Yuu and I were-” Before Lisa could continue her words though, Akito cuts in.

“You were on a date with each other, right? I know! Yuu-san told me when you were stuck to the machine.” Akito said with a grin. Lisa on the other hand formed a slight blush, both out of embarrassment from being too focused on the crane game, as well as from hearing Akito say that Yuu and her were on a date together so suddenly.

“Y-Yeah… Ahaha, sorry! I guess I concentrated a little bit too hard on the machine to actually hear what was happening around me... ”

“It’s fine! More importantly…” Akito began to ramble off, making Lisa listen through a long, non-stop review of the game that he played with Rinko just a little while ago.

With Lisa’s whole catcher machine scene finally completed, Yuu took a few steps back away from the three of them, letting out a sigh along with a tired smile afterwards.

“I swear, she gets way too serious about little things like this for me…” Yuu mumbled as he looked at Lisa from afar. Right after he finished his mumble however, he heard a whisper coming from his side.

_ “Then, since she tried so hard for you, why don’t you get her something in return?” _ The staff member that saw the whole thing happen in front of her whispered to Yuu, the usual sales smile on her face. 

Instead of being surprised that the staff member could hear his mumble or be surprised by the fact that she was pretty close to him, he questioned her.

“Any ideas?”

“Then… How about a plush for her?” The staff member replied, pointing towards the other machines in the area.

“You’re trying to get me to spend money here as well, aren’t you?” Yuu said, with an unamused look on his face. Seeing that, the staff member quickly replied.

“I never said that you should win it from a machine from here. You can definitely buy any plush from outside stores if you’d like.”

“But if you were to try and play one of our machines to get a gift for her, I can help make it easier for you to get the prize, as well as offer you pointers on how to win it if you’d like.”

_ “It’ll be cheaper than buying them from outsides stores too, I can assure you that.” _ The staff member whispered, a grin on her face once she finished. Hearing what the staff member had to offer, Yuu began to think about it for a bit. He was about to reject the staff member’s offer when he remembered the little story that Lisa told the three other members of the band about. The story on how he and Lisa became a couple. 

_ ...I guess I never really thanked her properly for staying by my side, huh? ...And since Lisa did do all of that for me, I guess it’s only fair if I gave her something in return as well, right? _Yuu used that reasoning to change his mind and to go along with the staff member’s idea.

“Alright then. But you don’t have to move the prize or anything, just give me tips.”

“Certainly! You can go ahead and pick any machine and I’ll be there to help.” She showed her sales smile once again as she waited for Yuu to make his move. Yuu on the other hand, had his phone out and was already typing a text to someone.

* * *

“And then, the final few notes really caught me off guard and I tried my best to hit it as well, but I couldn’t because it was so fast and without me realising it, the song already ended… It was so hard…”

“And then!”

_ Akkun’s been rambling for a while now… Should I stop him…? _ Rinko thought as she observed Akito rambling on about the game that they played to Lisa. While Lisa had been replying and commenting about what he’s been saying, Rinko figured that it’s about time they left her alone to continue her “date” with Yuu. 

Right when she thought about that though, she felt a buzz coming from her phone. She took out her phone and saw that it was a message from Yuu.

_ Yuu-san…? _Rinko took a look at the message’s contents.

Yuu: Rinko, I feel bad for doing this to you, but could you keep Lisa occupied and stall some time for me?

Rinko: Sure… But why?

Yuu: I have something that I have to do for a few moments that I don’t want her to know about.

_ What can it… _ Rinko wondered as she looked away from her phone’s screen and instead towards Yuu. Once she saw Yuu hinting towards the machines all around them though, she got the gist of what Yuu was trying to say and agreed to keep Lisa busy.

Rinko: Alright. I’ll try and buy some time for you. (* ^ ω ^)

Yuu: Thanks.

Rinko looked away from her phone to see Yuu beginning to move around to find a machine with the prize he’s looking for, with the staff member following right behind him.

_ I guess I’ll let Akkun continue to ramble on for a little while longer… _

* * *

“Speaking of which, the recipe that you thought me a few days back really was great, Lisa-nee! Everyone liked it!” Akito said with a huge grin on his face, eyes shining from happiness. Seeing that, Lisa couldn’t help but form a smile with a laugh.

“That’s great! I’m glad that it managed to be of use to you. I was worried if you’ll be able to master it in time for that dinner you said you were going to have with your family, but to hear that everything went well makes me happy!”

“Thanks for teaching me that recipe! Now I can finally add some variety to what I usually cook!”

“No problem! If you want me to teach you anymore recipes, I’ll be happy to help!”

“Really? Then, I’ll take up your offer then!” Akito said cheerfully. The two of them smiled at each other as if they were student and teacher, with the student finally achieving his goals and his teacher being proud of her student.

“U-Umm… Is it fine if I joined in as well? I’d like to learn some new recipes to cook… and learning in person seems better than trying to learn through a book or from the internet...” Hearing the conversation between Lisa and Akito, Rinko decided that she wanted to learn from Lisa as well, considering she could only cook a limited amount of dishes herself. 

“Rinko! It’s definitely fine! Feel free to join in as well!” Lisa said, welcoming her with a smile. Akito on the other hand, became more excited when he heard that Rinko wanted to learn with him as well.

“Yay! Rinrin, let’s learn together!” Akito said, excited as he went ahead to try and give Rinko a hug from the side, only to stop when he was getting close and returning back to where he was standing soon after, with a slightly flustered look on his face. 

While Rinko noticed his behaviour, she decided not to comment on it and instead replied to Lisa.

“Yes…! Imai-san, I’ll be in your care…”

“Leave it to me, I’ll turn you two into chefs!” Lisa said, the three of them smiling at each other. The trio quickly went on setting up a date for them to meet, and they decided that they would meet at Lisa’s house, with Lisa thinking of bringing Yuu over if he’s free as well. 

While she had never thought of doing or participating in anything like this before, Rinko thought that learning from Lisa along with Akito would be a fun thing to do, and that it’ll be a nice change of pace for herself. 

“Anyway, I wonder what’s taking Yuu so long… Rinko, you said that he was going to the washroom for a bit, right?” Lisa asked, curious after noticing that Yuu had been gone for quite some time. She had noticed that Yuu went away from them not long after Rinko received Yuu’s text, but Rinko managed to cover for him when Lisa initially asked about Yuu’s disappearance by saying that he went to the washroom.

After close to 10 minutes of not returning however, it was starting to look a little bit strange.

“Y-Yes... “ Rinko replied, stuttering a little. Hearing her response, Lisa began to be worried.

“That’s weird… Did something happen? Did he somehow get locked in there? Or maybe he couldn’t find it and got lost in the arcade? Or maybe he somehow got himself into a fight with someone or something?!” She said, hugging tightly onto the pillow that she won from the machine for Yuu, which she took out from the chute a good few minutes into Akito’s earlier conversation.

_ Imai-san… You’re thinking about it way too much… _ Rinko thought in her head, a little bit astonished by how much Lisa’s worrying about Yuu.   
  
...Though, she will admit that the last part Lisa said wouldn't be too impossible for Yuu. As much as he had changed compared to when Rinko first met him, Yuu still has a slightly sharp tongue that could easily trigger some people who aren’t too familiar with him and his personality. 

Though, him getting into a fight is definitely unlikely considering his real reasons of disappearing from the three of them.

“Woah, that sounds bad! Do you want me to go and check on him for you, Lisa-nee?” Akito said with a slightly panicked look on his face. 

Rinko forgot to tell Akito about Yuu’s real plans, so hearing Akito say that caught her off guard at first, but she managed to get herself together and was close to intervening on the conversation until a familiar voice spoke up right behind Rinko.

“There’s no need for that. I wouldn’t get myself into anything like that you know?” Yuu said, a stupefied look on his face. 

“Yuu! Where have you been? I was worried you know!” Lisa asked, a look of relief showing on her face with a slightly upset tone in her voice. In response, Yuu held out what he had been holding onto with his left hand and showed it to Lisa.

“Sorry. I was busy getting this.” What Yuu held out was a plush of the same rabbit mascot that Lisa has as her usual earrings. Yuu thought that the plush would have been a nice gift for her, considering that Lisa seemed to like that rabbit mascot a lot. In an instant, Lisa’s worried face turned into a shocked smile, and any evidence of her concern quickly vanished from her face.

“Yuu… That…” Before Lisa could finish her sentence though, Yuu moved forward towards her. Rinko and Akito moved out of the way for Yuu so that he could pass, but right when Yuu was beside Rinko, he placed a hand on her left shoulder and spoke, a small smile on his face. 

“Thanks for the help, Rinko. I’m sure you two have your own plans now, right? You can go on your way now. Sorry for keeping you.”

“It’s fine, Yuu-san… But if that’s the case, then I guess we’ll take our leave now…” Rinko replied, giving a nod to him.

“Alright, see you at the next practice session then.” Yuu said, giving her a light pat on her shoulder before lifting his hand off and continuing forward towards Lisa. Seeing Yuu go past her, Rinko looked towards Aktio and took his hand, before looking towards Lisa.

“Well then… Imai-san, see you at our next session. Enjoy your date...!” Rinko said with a smile that Lisa could only call cheeky, something that she rarely gets to see coming from Rinko. Rinko took a look at Akito, who at that point, was flustered with a pretty bright tint of pink on his face due to her suddenly grabbing his hand, and said to him.

“Let’s go and give these two some space…” She showed him her smile before proceeding to lead Akito by the hand out of the arcade. Akito was still confused by what was happening, but he quickly turned to Lisa and Yuu, giving a quick “See you!” to the both of them before letting himself be dragged away by Rinko.

* * *

“Here you go.” Yuu said, placing the plush right on Lisa’s head while she had a dumbfounded look stuck on her face. She placed a hand on the plush on top of her and stares at it from below, before finally uttering a word.

“Why…?” She asked, curious about Yuu’s actions. In response, Yuu gave a gentle smile and answered.

“I guess you can say... It’s a small gift in return for that cat pillow, along with everything you’ve done for me? Though, I don’t think this is even remotely enough to thank you with.” He took a quick pause before continuing.

“Ever since I met you, you’ve always been there for me. Helping me whenever I need help or even when I didn’t ask for it, staying by my side even though I pushed you away most of the time... You’ve done so many things for me to the point where it’ll be hard for me to list everything down, some even to the point where you’d put my own interests before your own. But I realised that I barely ever did anything for you in return aside from giving you my thanks or a compliment here and there.”

“That’s not true…! Just being able to stay by your side and getting a simple “Thank you” is enough for me! And besides, you’ve done plenty of things for me that you’re just unaware about! That’s why, don’t say that you’ve barely done anything for me!” Lisa responded, sounding slightly upset by what Yuu said.

“Sorry, Lisa. But compared to what you gave me, I can’t bring myself to just settle on that.” Yuu replied, a warm smile forming on his face right afterwards before he continued.

“That’s why, don’t hold back. You can be selfish, so make me do anything. Or rather, let me spoil you.” 

“...Is this a one time thing or…?” Lisa asked, looking up directly into Yuu’s eyes.

“Nope. From now on, I want to make sure I treat you right. So as I said before, don’t hold back, and let me spoil you.”

“Really? No take backs?”

“No take backs.”

“...Then, mind if I already ask for a selfish request?” Lisa asked as she went to take Yuu’s hand, gripping it tightly to calm her nerves. She looked a bit flushed to Yuu, but he didn’t pay too much attention to it to let it bother him.

“Sure.” Yuu responded, waiting for Lisa to throw anything at him.

“...You told the two of them that we’re on a date as an excuse, right?”

“Yeah.”

“If I said that I wanted that date to be real…” She asked, looking away from Yuu as she tried to hide her blushing face. Even without her finishing her sentence, Yuu answered.

“Sure. If you want to, then let’s do it.”

“...! Yes! Let’s go on one! A date!” Lisa said with an expression that Yuu could only call priceless, the smile on her face being the most valuable thing he sees. Seeing that, Yuu couldn’t help but form a slight grin seeing her, before saying.

“Well then, lead the way.”

“Yes!” Lisa replied, an excited look on her face along with a smile of joy from not only the date, but from everything that happened today. Her face shone so brightly that even Yuu himself couldn’t look at it for too long without being infected by her excitement. But without the two of them realising, that bright shine radiating from Lisa, along with their obvious flirting in the arcade managed to get a few people around them to start cursing them. 

_ Happy people can go die...! _Those silent whispers could be heard by everyone except the happy couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I’d like to apologize for the long gap between the time that the last chapter was uploaded up until this one. As I’ve noted before on the previous chapter, I had exams to sit through at the time, and even though I had long completed them since then, I couldn’t find the drive to pull myself back together and to restart editing. 
> 
> I also started to have a little of a writing burn out ever since then, but I realise that it isn’t that good of an excuse for uploading this late, seeing that all the remaining chapters had been written before I had to go on that long hiatus, with editing being the only thing standing in my way.
> 
> But, I’m not dead. I’m still alive, so I’ll try and get the last few chapters out. Hell, I’d like to think that the long break managed to make me realise how badly I wrote this whole thing. It’s too late to make any further changes to the plot now though, seeing as I already wrote out basically everything, so I’ll try to at least fix the ending a bit compared to the current draft that I have. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’ll try my best to get it done as soon as possible. Hope you’ll be able to forgive me for this w
> 
> Anyways, back to non-formal Miro! So, how was it? Honestly, whatever I said about last chapter taking so long to edit is thrown out of the window now for this one LOL. This took way too god damn long that I feel sort of salty about it. Also, I wasn’t originally planning on making this chapter a YukiLisa one, but somehow, it just turned the way that it is now and I can’t say anything other than “…wow”. I’m honestly shocked about it. I hope you liked this mini YukiLisa that I wrote w.
> 
> Anyhow, guess I’m running out of words again. Like before, I’m sorry that it took so long to upload this, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter~!

**Author's Note:**

> [Note: This is supposed to be the note for the first Chapter. I don't know why it's not there at the bottom of the first chapter, but meh, I guess I'll just roll with it.]
> 
> After months of working on this, I finally managed to complete the AkoRinko fic that I promised on making a few months back! I had this idea in my head for a while now, but I wanted to test the waters of writing genderswapped fics first, so I went and wrote “A late Valentine’s fic” to see if it’s a good idea to write them or not, and sure enough, I was able to get enough feedback to be motivated to start writing this fic!
> 
> I originally planned on keeping this one short, since I wasn’t really into the AkoRinko ship, even if Ako was turned into a guy. But in the middle of writing this, I found myself loving more and more of the cute ship that is AkoRinko from all the event stories and works that I’ve been reading that I somehow managed to not only write 10x over what I had originally planned, but become a fan of the ship and more of a oshi to Rinko herself. Though, that last one was eventually going to happen if you think about it, considering I’m a big Roselia oshi overall, haha.
> 
> Anyways, although I had finished writing everything for this fic, I plan on releasing it chapter by chapter every week on Monday just because I never really wrote anything by chapter before. (lol)
> 
> It also gives me a chance to double check everything by chapter before I release it without giving me the pain of checking everything at once when I release it all. Does that sentence sound weird? It does. But anyways...  
I’ll release three chapters from the start, so it shouldn’t take long for this to finish up. Though, if I suddenly find that there’s something that I need to fix, the schedule might get a bit messy so ww.
> 
> As always, I’d like to thank those who’ve proofread this lil fic of mine for helping me do so, as well as thank the user “Ueet” for suggesting Ako’s male name for me. In the end, the name “Akito” got stuck in my head and I decided on using that for Ako, haha.
> 
> Anyhow, I hope you enjoy reading this lil fic of mine. I probably won’t be writing notes on other chapters except for a few and the final chapter, so see you at the end!
> 
> ...I say that, but I’m most likely going to write notes on every single chapter anyways www.


End file.
